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SHEEP HUSBANDRY 

In tl)e 00utl): 

OOMPRISINO A TREATISE ON THE 

ACCLIMATION OF SHEEP IN THE SOUTHERN STATES, 

AND 

AN ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS. 

ALSO, 

A COMPLETE MANUAL 

OF 

BREEDING, SUMMER AND WINTER MANAGEMENT, AND OF 
THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 

toiti) |)ortraits anb olljer 3Uttstrations. 

IN A SERIES OP LETTERS FROM 

HENRY S/ R A ND.AL L, . Esq. 

OP COBILAND VILLaQE,- N. 1'.' ' ' . . . . • 

TO 

R. F. W. ALL ST ON, Esq. 

OF SOUTH CAEOLINA. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY J. S. SKINNER & SON. 

1849. 



•- '^ ■". ' 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1848, by 

J. S. SKINNER 4- SON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



1 



^. of Int. 



Printed by T. K. & P. G. Collins. 



PEEFACE. 



So full and complete is the exposition of the subject as discussed 
in the fiollowing pages, and so clearly are the scope of the work and 
the circumstances which prevailed with its accomplished author, to 
pass it through our hands to the public, explained in his own " Intro- 
duction," that only in compliance with a common custom in book- 
making, might any thing have been deemed necessary in the way of 
preface ; were it not to acquit ourselves of the obligation to tender 
thus publicly to Col. Randall, not our own thanks merely, but those 
of' the agricultural community, for the great benefit which must ensue 
to it, in the proportion that this instructive contribution to the stock 
of our agricultural knowledge and literature may command the atten- 
tion to which it is, on every account, so well entitled. 

An agricultural correspondence, reaching far back, and spreading 
widely over the Southern States, to which has been more recently 
added considerable extent of personal observation, had with us, 
already established the conviction, that in no other part of our coun- 
try, perhaps, does there exist a resource at once so fruitful, and so 
little availed of, as that which is possessed in that region, for the pro- 
secution of this — one of the most interesting and important branches 
of Husbandry that any country can enjoy. 

But while it has been easy to perceive this defect so apparent in their 
agricultural economy, amounting in the aggregate to a national loss 
of no inconsiderable magnitude ; it was not so easy to expose, as 
Col. Randall has done, the fallacy of the difficulties that were sup- 
posed to stand in the way, or to indicate how the real impediments 
which do exist may be overcome, or materially mitigated. 

Something of these imaginary difficulties, for successful Sheep 
Husbandry, may, as we believe, be assumed to have their origin in the 
prejudices engendered in the minds of Southern agriculturists, by the 
sweeping condemnation of it to be found in the celebrated and deserv- 
edly popular essays of Arator, by Col. John Taylor — clarum vene- 
rahile nomen! and it may be that these prejudices are referable in a 
degree, also, to the concurrent opinions of the no less celebrated John 
Randolph, "of Roanoke," who, even on the floor of Congress, gave 
them utterance in vehement and bitter denunciation against the harm- 



4 PREFACE. 

less animal itself — going so far in his animosity to it, and to all en- 
couragement of the great industry which it was formed to suhserve, 
. as to declare, that he would at any time go out of his way " to kick a 
sheep!" Nor would it be unreasonable to apprehend that these im- 
pressions against the policy and profit of sheep-breeding, as an import- 
ant object of attention for the Southern land-holder, have taken root 
the more kindly in the minds of a people unaccustomed, if not na- 
turally averse to that careful and minute attention Avhich the successful 
prosecution of this business demands — a people whose sons, it may be 
feared, still find it easier, if not more commendable, to follow in the 
venerated footsteps of their sires, than to encounter for themselves the 
labor of investigation, and the trouble (together with some expense) 
of new arrangements incident to every new employment of labor and 
capital. The general impression, in fact, is, (the reader will judge 
how far it is just,) that cultivators of the soil everywhere are, of all 
classes, the least apt to embark in any new enterprise, however pro- 
mising. They talk and talk about it, but rarely go about ; and per- 
haps it may be better that it should be so ; yet it is well to remember 
that precipitancy is one thing, and torpor quite another ! We once 
knew a farmer (so called) in Calvert county, who, being told, as he sat 
toasting himself in the chimney corner on a cold winter's night, that 
the house ivas on fire ! without moving from his seat, answered, " call 
the 23eople .'" 

In opposition to all that has been urged or imagined against Sheep 
Husbandry in the South, on the score either of ill-adapted climate, 
deficiency of suitable forage, want of adequate demand for wool, or 
other obstacles, the whole subject has been so admirably and thoroughly 
canvassed in the work here offered, that further argument would be 
superfluous ; otherwise we might oppose to the hitherto prevailing be- 
lief, if not prejudice, the experience of some, on a limited scale, and 
the well-settled opinion of yet many more among the most enlightened 
of our acquaintances in that region — gentlemen uniting ample oppor- 
tunities with close habits of observation on all questions of rural 
economy, and who have not hesitated to express the confident belief, 
that profitable and interesting as has been the growing of cattle in 
western Virginia, an equal amount of capital and attention, devoted 
to sheep and wool grooving in the same section of counti-y, would be 
yet more remunerating. Looking for reliable information yet further 
south, and back to a period more remote, even anterior to our decla- 
ration of independence, it may not be out of place to quote an evi- 
dently careful and intelligent author of a work on the climate and 
products of each of the then English colonies. Speaking of Greorgia, 
and her well-ascertained adaptation to the growth of silk, the vine, 
the olive, madder and wool, he remarks : " Wool, we [England] take 



PREFACE. 5 

in large quantities from abroad, because it is of a kind we cannot pro- 
duce in England : our colonies on the continent of North America, 
South of New York, produce a wool entirely similar to the Spanish. 
No staple they could produce would, therefore, be more advantageous 
to Great Britain. It is well known that a piece of fine broadcloth 
cannot be made without Spanish wool ; it is also known that the 
Spaniards have of late years made great efforts to work up their own 
wool ; if they should succeed, or if they should by any other means 
prevent the export of it, our woollen fabrics, though they might not 
be stopped, would at least be burdened with a fresh expense and a 
new trouble ; all which would be prevented by e7icouraging the imjjort 
of wool from America : and at the same time that this good effect was 
wrought, another would be brought about, in cramping the manufac- 
tures of the colonies.'' 

Unfortunately for the agricultural interest of our country particu- 
larly, the desire to " cramp the manufactures of the colonies," here so 
candidly avowed as the settled policy of England, not only survived 
the Revolution, but has been so well fostered by our own subserviency 
to it, as to render our independence, in respect of this and other no 
less important industrial pursuits, rather nominal and fictitious than 
substantial and true ; nevertheless, with the odds of pauper labor and 
immense capital against us, thanks to the ingenuity and enterprise of 
our people, we need not despair of final success with any thing like fair 
consideration on the part of our own government. For this opinion 
we need have no better authority than that of Samuel Lawrexcb, 
the enlightened and liberal proprietor of the Middlesex Mills, at 
Lowell, who says, " fhe business of manufactui-ing wool in this coun- 
try is on a better basis than ever before, inasmuch as the character, 
skill, and capital engaged in it are such as to defy foreign competi- 
tion." Occasional revulsions, such as the present, will occur from 
causes abroad over which we have no control, but let not the wool 
grower relax in the care- of his flock, for the same- far-seeing manu- 
facturer has declared that he could point to articles of wool now im- 
ported, that will require thirty millions of pounds of medium and fine 
quality to supply the demand. 

After all, then, on viewing the importance of the inquiry to nume- 
rous friends for whose welfare we profess to entertain unaffected con- 
cern, and the great extent of the district which seemed to us to be so well 
adapted to the growth of sheep and wool — the magnitude of the interests 
involved swelled upon the contemplation, begetting a conviction that as 
a question of practical agriculture, it was not to be worthily and well 
treated by a few hasty and superficial essays, or by more elaborate 
compilations in relation to the oft-repeated natural history of the ani- 
mal, its prominence in scriptural annals, &c., unsustained by that 



6 PREFACE. 

laborious and discriminating comparison of facts and authorities to 
illustrate its uses and its value, and by that fulness of personal ex- 
perience in the breeding and management of the various races, " in 
sickness and in health," which constitute the excellence of these let- 
ters to Col. Allston. 

Under all these circumstances, the reader of the work here pre- 
sented may well judge how fortunate that it should have been under- 
taken, con amove, by a gentleman so well prepared by general scholar- 
ship, by exact practical knowledge, and by extensive inquiry into the 
mercantile and manufacturing, as well as the agricultural bearings of 
the question. 

It is due, however, no less in justice to ourselves than to truth, to 
add, that in urging him to undertake it, we had no idea of committing 
the author to such an amount of labor, even had we foreseen that 
being, as he says, a " labor of love," it would have thus ended in pro- 
ducing, as in our judgment it has, decidedly, the best work on the sub- 
ject of Sheep, that has at any time appeared in our country. 

May we not refer, for the soundness of this opinion, as well to 
its originality and strictly American character, as to the comprehen- 
siveness with which it presents the subject in its various relations, in- 
structive alike to the merchant, the manufacturer, the political 
inquirer, and the legislator ; as to the practical farmer ? Nor is it to 
be characterized alone by its utility in these respects ; for the reader 
will agree with us that its entire fairness and freedom from narrow 
views and local prejudices, much enlarge, in a moral and instructive 
view, its title to general confidence and favor. 

Finally, as far as the public judgment may be anticipated in refer- 
ence to a production originally appearing disadvantageously, in de- 
tached parts, and not until now finished and embodied ; if we may 
Goncliide from the favorable manner in which such portions have been 
reviewed and recommended, by some of the leading journals of the 
country, the writer may well felicitate himself on having rendered a 
most acceptable service not only to his brother farmers, but to his 
countrymen generally ; while we may unaffectedly, and, as we think, 
confidently add, it establishes for Col. Randall himself a claim to stand 
in front of those whose pens, some of them under high motives of 
patriotism, have been engaged in illustrating one of the most impor- 
tant of all our industrial pursuits; nay, one Avhich may be considered 
essential, in an eminent degree, to our national independence. 

J. S. SKINNER, 

Late Editor of the Farmers' Library, 
(now of The Plough, the Loom, and the Jinvil.') 
July 4, 1848. 



INTEODUCTION. 



The subject of Sheep Husbandry has recently attracted more attention in our 
Southern and South-western States, than at any previous period. The want of a 
staple or product, the cultivation of which should render productive the capital in- 
vested in millions of acres of mountain and other lands, which do not now yield a 
farthing of income, and which, from their soils, situation, or other circumstances, 
are unadapted to the growth of any of the present Southern staples, has struck every 
Southern man, as well as every traveller of ordinary intelligence, who has passed 
through the regions indicated. The want, too, of some class of domestic animals 
to constitute the basis, or pivot an it were, of a system of convertible husbandry on 
the tillage lands of the South, to take the place of the present imperfect rotations 
of crops, and new and old field-system, has become apparent to many of her more 
investigating agriculturists. 

The fact that the mountain and other unproductive lands alluded to cannot be 
made to profitably yield any vegetable products but pasturage ; that for the present, 
and for a long time to come, at least, the bulk of them will not afford a pasturage 
adapted to the support of large animals ; could not but suggest the growing of wool, 
as their best, if not their only available staple. The similarity of their general cli- 
mate, too, with that where wool is most cheaply grown on the Eastern Continent, 
was a consideration promising favorably to this husbandry. And, finally, it had 
not failed to strike men of ordinary commercial intelligence, that of those animal 
staples, to the production of which a Southern climate is adapted, the Sheep fur- 
nishes a vastly more marketable one than any of the larger grazing animals. 

The superiority of the Sheep over other animals for supporting the fertility of 
tillage lands, by converting a portion of their products into manure, was not so 
apparent. But the well-known fact that they receive the preference for this pur- 
pose, in some of the best agricultural countries of the world, made it sufficiently 
probable to demand a full investigation, before adopting an adverse conclusion, espe- 
cially as what has been said in relation to climate and the marketableness of animal 
staples, was as applicable to these lands, in the South, as to those adapted only to 
grass. 

But Sheep Husbandry as a system, and especially a system tested by experience, 
was scarcely known in any of the Southern States excepting in western Virginia. 
"Whether the theoretical considerations and natural circumstances which apparently 
favored its introduction would be met, in practice, with unforeseen obstacles, was a 
matter calling for grave circumspection. The Southern agriculturist is ever wary 
of innovation, and very properly averse to rash experiment. He knew, it is true, 
that his roving and untended " native" sheep obtained subsistence, and found no 

7 



8 INTRODUCTION. 



enemies to their health but the wolf and cur, on all the Southern zones. But 
whether the local climate and herbage of those different zones — the low, level, 
Tertiary sands of the Atlantic plain — the granite hills of the middle, and the ele- 
vated Paleozoic or Transition regions of the mountain zone — would be found to 
agree with the more valuable breeds of sheep ; whether their wool would retain its 
qualities or degenerate in these several localities ; whether a greatly increased sup- 
ply of wool would find a remunerating price in market; whether the mountains 
could be converted into sheep-pastures, and wool produced on them without an 
expense which would absorb all the profits ; whether Sheep Husbandry could be 
made a substitute for " resting," or expensive artificial manures, in restoring to the 
cotton, tobacco, and grain lands of the middle and tide-water zones the fertility 
withdrawn by tillage ; and various other important correlative questions were all 
problems to him. And to add to the difficulties of forming a correct opinion, and 
especially of instituting safe and satisfactory experiments, he was ignorant of all 
the practical details and manipulations of Sheep Husbandry : he knew little of the 
various breeds, and their respective adaptation to his wants. 

For information on the subject of practical Sheep Husbandry and breeds of sheep, 
there are a multitude of European, and several American works, of great value. 
But for the answers to the questions in the preceding paragraph, which involve the 
particular bearings and adaptxition of this husbandry, of the different breeds, etc., 
to the agricultural circumstances and wants of the various regions of the Souths 
where was the inquirer to find the desired information] Some well-written letters, 
embracing portions of these topics, have appeared from time to time in our agricul- 
tural journals. They have been of great value in drawing attention to the subject. 
But they have not usually occupied limits sufficient for the examination of more 
than a single phase of the general subject, or they have been mere coup (Tmls of 
that subject, omitting all but a few important facts and considerations of a general 
character. They have, too, usually been replied to, or published contemporaneously 
in the same or other agricultural journals, with contradictory statements — some- 
times with crude and erroneous speculations — calculated to confuse or mislead the 
inexperienced inquirer. Beyond these occasional Letters in the agricultural jour- 
nals, nothing, so far as I am aware, has appeared on this subject. 

A practical farmer, I have bred nearly all the approved varieties of almost every 
kind of domestic stock — of every kind commonly kept on Northern farms — and 
have been familiar with the details of their management and husbandry. I have 
owned flocks of sheep, and been more or less familiar with them, from my child- 
liood ; and for the last fifteen years have made their economy, their habits, their 
comparative profitableness with other kinds of stock, and the comparative value of 
their breeds, matters of careful and constant observation and experiment. 

"When Corresponding Secretary of the New York State Agricultural Society, a 
few years since, the facts drawn out by me in an extensive correspondence with 
eminent Southern agriculturists, united to what knowledge I had previously ob- 
tained by reading and personal observation of the Southern States, led me to the 
impression that there were numerous considerations and natural circumstances 
strongly indicating the expediency of introducing wool-growing extensively into 
those States. But at that time, my attention, in common with that of many if not 
most, of the Northern flock-masters, was turned towards the prairies of the North- 
west, as a region capable of sweeping away all American competition in this branch 
of husbandry. Glowing estimates and calculations had been predicated on very 
partial experiments. The value of the natural grasses, the character of the winters 
and general climate, and the general facilities of the prairies for wool-growing, were 
then little understood here, and had been made the subjects of much favorable exag- 



INTRODUCTION. 



geration. Facts subsequently ascertained, have, it cannot be denied, materially 
changed the impressions of our flock-masters on this subject. Whether correctly 
or incorrectly, they no longer fear Western competition in growing fine wool. My 
own coincides with the popular impression on this topic, if we consider that com- 
petition in its relations to a period not far distant in the future. 

The adoption of these views led me to again turn my attention, never entirely 
withdrawn, more particularly to the capabilities of the South for this branch of hus- 
bandry. My conclusions and the reasons for them will be found in the following 
Letters. In a letter to Hon. Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, pub- 
lished in his Treasury Report of 1845, and in a series of letters published in the 
Virginia " Valley Farmer," the same year, I stated some of the general conclu- 
sions I had then arrived at on this topic. These publications were followed by 
letters from gentlemen residing in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, making farther inquiries, and usually impart- 
ing more or less local information on the subject. Some of these were practical 
men, only seeking information on practical points ; others, eminent for intelligence 
and legislative experience, embraced a more comprehensive field of investigation, 
and sought from me, as probably from other sources, to ascertain by a wide range 
of general facts and statistics, the probable bearing, now and in future, of an exten- 
sive system of wool-growing on the Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, domes- 
tic consumption — in short, the whole domestic economy of our Southern States. 

Answers to these questions demanded careful investigation, and involved a great 
variety and complexity of details in the practical department of the subject, ren- 
dered far more numerous by the wide differences existing between the soils, esta- 
blished husbandry, and even the climates, of the three distinct and well-defined 
zones already alluded to. The location of some of my correspondents was on the 
mountains of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee — others on the hilly zone of 
the same States — others on the Tertiary sands of the tide-water zone, and the Cre- 
taceous plains of the Mississippi and Arkansas. To give opinions on all the topics 
referred to, and in reference to natural circumstances so various, supported by even 
a respectable show of corroborating facts, was an undertaking requiring considera- 
ble time and labor : to repeat them separately to each correspondent, was wholly 
out of the question. 

Requested by Mr. Skinner, a little more than a year since, to prepare a series of 
Letters on Sheep Husbandry, and especially on Sheep Husbandry in the South, for 
The Farmers' Library, it occurred to me that a compliance with his request would 
enable me to answer each of my correspondents by once writing; and moreover, I 
could feel, under such circumstances, that I could properly afford to bestow an 
amount of time and elaboration on my communications which I should otherwise 
find impracticable. And I confess, I also thought if the information I could impart 
would prove of value to my personal correspondents, it might also prove so to many 
others among the numerous readers of a popular agricultural magazine. The liberal 
offer of the Publishers to provide all such cuts as I should choose to direct, was an 
additional inducement to adopt this medium of communication. I have often felt 
the want of these in agricultural letters of my own, and in reading the works of 
others. In describing a breed of sheep, for example, to a person who has never 
seen them, the best chosen words convey but a vague impression. In many other 
cases also, cuts exhibit at a glance what it would require much circumlocution to 
describe ; and they in many instances convey ideas to the mind with a definiteness, 
correctness, and exemption from possibility of misunderstanding, which words 
alone never could. The cuts include portraits of all the breeds which I supposed 
could of possibility possess, or claim to possess, superior value, for any region or 



B 



10 INTRODUCTION. 



locality within the United States ; all the necessary anatomical figures, with those 
of the less known insect and parasitic enemies of the sheep ; and finally, represen- 
tations of every implement, fixture, or process employed in Sheep Husbandry, 
where I thought they would convey important information — and particularly new 
information — more clearly than it could be done by words. Many of the latterJ 
class of illustrations have never before been, so far as I am aware, attempted ; and,! 
representing as they do the results of years of inquiry and experiment, I trust theyj 
may prove of service to beginners — particularly in regions where Sheep Husbandry! 
has been hitherto little known. 

The Letters were begun and concluded exclusively as a " labor of love." To 
possess the consciousness that even a limited portion of my fellow-men have been 
benefited by my labors, would be all, and the noblest recompense to which I could 
aspire. Nor do I feel, that in attempting to benefit the agriculturists of one section 
of our country, by urging them to appropriate a branch of industry now giving sub- 
sistence to those of another section, I am seeking the good of the former at the 
expense of the latter. Every region has natural advantages, or those resulting from 
the natural course of events, for different branches of industry. A right to these 
advantages enures from a right to the soil ; and the former is just as natural and 
sacred a right as the latter. To attempt to wrest them from the holder by legisla- 
tion, is oppressive ; to withhold from him any knowledge necessary to the enjoy- 
ment of them, is unfraternal and unmanly. If Virginia can grow wool, or any other 
staple, more cheaply than New York, let her do it. She will only force New York 
to fall back on the production of some other staple, or to adopt some other branch 
of industry. And why not 1 Why should there not be a division of production, 
where it is called for by natural circumstances, at least within the limits of a com- 
mon nation ? It is doubtless well for every region, whether extensive or limited, 
to produce its own necessaries of life to the greatest economical extent. But an 
attempt to force Nature against her manifest capabilities, for the sake of attainino-a 
fancied local independence, is to inflict a real evil, in the hope of attaining an ima- 
ginary good. History is full of instances where the prosperity of large masses of 
individuals, and even whole nations, has been crippled, in futile eftbrts to upbuild 
this or that branch of industry, in spite of natural obstacles, or against the compe- 
tition of regions possessing greater natural advantages. Among the foolish, selfish, 
and even iniquitous legislation of past ages, there has been none perhaps productive 
of more real mischief to human industry than the intermeddling enactments of go- 
vernments, ostensibly designed for its benefit. Masses of men, because divided by 
a rivulet, speaking a different language, or owning the sway of different potentates, 
have aspired to that physical independence of each other, and of the whole world, 
which the God of nature rendered economically, if not absolutely impossible. The 
vexatious restrictions on trade and commerce imposed in pursuit of this object by 
one government, were met by retaliatory ones by others, until international com- 
mercial legislation became a confused labyrinth of enactments — their absurdity only 
equaled by their mischievousness. And like the elephants formerly used by bar- 
barian nations in battle, they nearly as often trampled down their friends as their 
enemies. The era of these things is rapidly passing away. That patriotism which 
includes only a province or State, among one common people, is beginning to be 
recognised as narrow and sordid : nay, among intelligent men, that philanthropy is 
beginning to be thought meagre and unexpansive which stops even at the boundaries 
of Nations. 

In preparing the following Letters, I have labored under disadvantages insepara- 
ble from the circumstances under which they have been prepared. I have written 
them from month to month, amid the hurry of other pursuits, with little idea of what 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

would be their ultimate limits — usually with one or more of the immediately pre- 
cedino- numbers in the hands of the printer, and consequently not under my inspec- 
tion. I have not therefore had that opportunity to proportion the space devoted to 
the several topics, avoid repetition, and correct errors, possessed by him who com- 
pletes and revises, before any portion of his manuscript is rendered unalterable by 
stereotyping. 

Reliance on insufficient authority has in a very few instances led me into errors, 
but fortunately, so far as discovered, they have been of trifling importance, and in 
relation to matters of no especial moment. Those thought worthy of notice have 
been corrected in subsequent parts of the body of the work. The causes I have 
named, therefore, affect rather the literary character of the Letters, than their 
general accuracy. 

In stating important facts and conclusions, I have consulted such writers of repu- 
tation as were within my reach. Among the foreign ones who have prepared works 
on Sheep Husbandry, or expressed important opinions on some of its separate 
topics or facts, or who have alluded to the Sheep Husbandry of particular countries 
or nations, reference has been had to the following, either by consulting their works, 
as I have in most instances been able to do — or by quotations from them found in 
the works of other writers of reputation ; — Anderson, Bakewell, Barnes, Barrow, 
BischofF, Blacklock, Bourgoing, Bright, Carr, Coventry, Culley, Cunningham, 
D'Arboval, Darwin, Daubenton, Dick, Ellman, Gasparin, Gilbert, Goese, Harrison, 
Hogg, Hood, Howitt, Hubbard, Jacob, Lang, Lasteyrie, Leeuwenhoek, Lichsten- 
stein, Linnffius, Low, Luccock, Maitland, Malte-Brun, McCulloch, Moffat, 
McKenzie, Paget, Parkinson, Parry, Petri, Pictet, Powell, Reaumur, Rodolphi, 
Sinclair, Slade, Southey, Spallanzani, Spooner, Stephens, Swaine, Trail, Trimmer, 
Valasnieri, Vanderdonk, Von Thaer, Walz, Western, Willmer & Smith, Youatt, 
Young, and some others. Of our domestic writers, I have aimed to consult all of 
the most prominent ones. It is not necessary to enumerate them, extending, as the 
list would, to hundreds. 

The examination of these writers, foreign and domestic, has been no recent under- 
taking with me. For years, I have found it a source both of instruction and plea- 
sure, to peruse their works. Where they have proposed any thing new to me, which 
I thought promised favorable results, I have usually sought the first opportunity to 
put their propositions to the experimentum crucis of actual trial. I have often thus 
learned valuable flicts. But I have nearly or quite as often ascertained that what 
may be true of one breed, in one climate, or under one set of circumstances, is not 
true when all or a part of these conditions are changed. The English and German 
systems of management, for example, I regard as almost wholly inapplicable here, 
on account of the entire different relation which the prices of land and labor boai 
toward each other in those countries and our own. And I sometimes have had the 
conviction forced upon me, that writers even of reputation have assumed positions 
in relation to practical matters, which they must have derived from other sources 
than direct personal experience. 

While I have carefully reviewed and collated the opinions of other writers on 
doubtful practical points, I have in all instances, as will be seen in the following 
pages, preferred the results of personal experience and observation, to adverse 
authority, however eminent. Compilations, it seems to me, are sufTiciently abun- 
dant, and I have thought it better to give my own opinions, leaving them to stand or 
fall, as they shall be found accurate or inaccurate. Where I have found it necessary 
to rely on others for any fact, or have quoted their opinions, I have uniformly given 
them credit. To my kind correspondents, particularly my Southern correspondents 
—many of whose communications are not published on account of their reluctance 



12 INTRODUCTION. 



to be cited as authority for facts, where their modesty leads them to underrate their 
own comparative knowledge and experience — I tender my thanks for their 
assistance. 

I have addressed the Letters to Col. R. F. W. Allston, of Waccamaco Beach, 
near Georgetown, South Carolina — a gentleman to whom I am indebted for muchJ 
valuable information on the subject of Southern Agriculture, and who has ever] 
evinced a most earnest desire to contribute to the improvement of that Agriculture. 



HENRY S. RANDALL. 

Cortland Village, N. Y., April 3, 1848. 



I 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 
Effect of Climate on the Health akd WooL-PHODuciifG Qualities of Sheep. 15 

LETTER 11. 
Effect of Climate (continued) 33 

LETTER IIL 

Adaptatioit of the Soils, Herbage, &c., of the Southerst States to Sheep 

HCSBANDKT. 1. Of THE LoW OR TlDE-WATEU RegION. 30 

LETTER IV. 

The Adaptation of the Soils, Herbage, &c., of the Southern States to 
Sheep Husbandry, (continued.) — 2. Of the Middle or Hilly Zone. — 
3. Of the Mountain Region , 42 

LETTER V. 

Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern States. — 1. Direct Profit 

on Capital invested 52 

LETTER VL 

Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern States. — 2. As the Basis of 

Amelioration in Naturally Sterile and Worn-out Soils 66 

LETTER Vn. 

Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern States. — 3. By Giving to 
Southern Agriculture a Mixed and Convertible Character. — 4. By 
Furnishing the Raw Material for the Manufacture of Domestic 
Woollens , 78 

LETTER Vm. 

Prospects of the Wool Market — Future Demand and Supply 94 

13 



14 CONTENTS. 

Paga I 
LETTER IX. 

Pbospscts of the Wool Mabket — Future Demand and Supply 108 

LETTER X. 
Breeds of Sheep in the United States 129 

LETTER XL 

The Most Profitable Breed of Sheep fob the South— Principles of 

Breeding , , I53 

LETTER XIL 
Summer Management of Sheep ........173 

LETTER XIII. 
Winter Management of Sheep I97 

LETTER XIV. 
Anatomt and Diseases of Sheep 219 

LETTER XV. 
Anatomt of the Sheep, (continued.)— Diseases and their Treatment 234 

LETTER XVL 
Diseases and their Treatment, (continued) 254 

LETTER XVIL 
Sheep Dogs, Wool Depots, &c 278 



APPENDIX 23^ 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY 



IN 



THE SOUTH. 



LETTER I. 

EFFECT OP CLIMATE ON THE HEALTH AND WOOL-PRODUCING 
aUALITIES OF SHEEP. 



Introductory Remarks. ..Wool-Growine; and Manufacturing Statistics of the Southern States compared 
with those of New-York. ..Eft'ect of Warm Climates on the Health of Sheep. . .Sheep in the Southern 
States below latitude 32"... Effect of Climate on Wool-Producing Qualities of Sheep — on the Quantity of 
the Wool . . .Weight of Fleeces in the Southern States indicated by U. S. Census of 1840 — Important Omis- 
sions in that Census — Other important Errors in it. ..Table of Weights of Fleeces in Four Counties where 
they average highest in each of the Southern States and in New.York — Latitude, Topography and Climate 
of those Counties . . . Warmth of Climate conducive to the Production of Wool— Reasons. 

R. F. W. Allston, Esq — 

Dear Sir : That spirit wliicli prompts communities and States to at- 
tempt to render themselves independent, so far as the supply of physical 
wants is concerned, of other communities and States, is an eminently 
proper one, up to certain limits. Beyond these, it degenerates into mere 
sectional selfishness, as deserving of reprobation in the community as in 
the individual — nay, more so, for it militates more widely against the in- 
terests and happiness of mankind. Agiiculture supplies the most of our 
physical wants which are not administered to spontaneously by Nature. 
In this great department of human labor,it is not difficult to decide how far 
tho inhabitants of each particular region are called upon to rear from the 
earth what their wants require. Nature herself has, in the distribution of 
soils and climates, both indicated and limited the production of many of 
the agricultural staples, by geographical boundaries, sometimes topically 

15 



16 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

and sometimes by whole regions. This compels those practicing Agricul- 
ture, both as individuals and masses, to make that " division of labor " 
which, as in the mechanic arts, gives a better knowledge of its principles 
and a greater expertness in its practical manipulations. It also creates 
the necessity of exchange. Exchange is commerce, and commerce begetd 
and diffuses civilization. 

Agricultural production, then, should be controlled by the demand or 
want, and by the adaptation of the country to such production. It would 
be absurd, for example, for New- York to attempt to raise its own rice 
and cotton, instead of exchanging the surplus of what it can most readily 
produce for that rice and cotton, or selling its surplus where it is wanted, 
and buying the rice and cotton with the proceeds. But, on the other hand, 
it would be equally absurd for New-York to be dependent on South 
America or Australia for her wools, when she can raise that staple just as 
well as those countiies, and thus save paying for transportation and the 
hire or commission of the agents of exchange. 

Though Nature both indicates and limits the production of staj^les by 
soils and climates, she too rigidly enforces the primal cui"se, or perhaps 
we should say blessing, of labor, to bring forth each, indigenously, in the 
regions adapted to it, or ever to place them there, unless transported by 
the enterprise and industry of man. The potato and maize were a recent 
gift from this continent to the eastern. The debt has been repaid by rice, 
the sugar cane, the horse, the cow, the sheep, and a multitude of other 
plants and animals. How singular is the history of some of their deporta- 
tions ! The sugar cane, now furnishing an important staple in some of our 
own Southern States, originated in the eastern confines of Asia ; was not 
vouchsafed to the Greek and Roman ; traveled into Arabia about the 
last of the thirteenth century ; passed thence into Africa ; was carried 
by the Moors into Spain ; by the Spaniards and Portuguese into the West 
India Islands ; and thence we received it. Rice, the gi'eat staple of 
your own State, sir, a plant of which it has been said that it " has altered 
the face of the globe and the destiny of nations," originated also in Asia, 
and has traveled by the same slow stages, until it has reached that low 
zone which skirts our south-eastern shores, to render its vast marshes, oth- 
erwise useless, as profitably productive as the best grain or cotton lands 
of the Southern States. 

Here, sir, we find an instructive lesson. Other regions there are in our 
Southern States, now, nearly as useless as Avould be her " hammocks " 
without rice, inviting the introduction of some other great staple to sup- 
ply, if feasible, a home demand, and a sui-plus for profitable exportation. 
If this great object can be achieved, and by the same means, the husbandry 
of the regions now under cultivation be made to assume that mixed and 
convertible character which will both add to their present proceeds, and 
better sustain their fertility, for future demands on them, a benefit will be 
conferred on the South the present and final results of which it would 
be difficult to overestimate. Repudiating theoretic speculation and vague 
conjecture — advancing just so far and no farther than we find our way 
illumined by the broad and certain light of facts, let us inquire what im- 
portant staple there is, not now extensively produced at the South, which 
would come within and at the same time fill the requirements I have men- 
tioned. 

Woolen fabrics constitute an important item in the imports of the South- 
em States, and for these they exchange the proceeds of no inconsiderable 
proportion of their industry with the Northern States and with Europe. 

The following table will exhibit the population, and the amount of home 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



17 



production in these staples, according to the U. S. census of 1840, in the 
States south of the Ohio and Potomac, and west of the Mississippi, (in- 
cluding Louisiana,) in 1839. To these are added, by way of comparison, 
the statistics of the State of New-York, under the same heads, for the 
same year : 





r' 


TABLE 


No. 1. 






States. 


Population. 


No. of Sheep. 


Lbs. of Wool. 


No. nf Woolen 
Factories. 


Value of If'oolen 
Manufactured 
Gauds. 




1,239,797 
753,419 
594.398 
691,392 
.^4,477 
590,756 
37.5,651 
3,52,411 
829,210 
779,825 


], 293,772 
538,279 
232,981 
267,107 
7,198 
163,243 
128,367 
98,072 
741,593 

1,008,240 


2,538,374 

625,044 

299,170 

371,303 

7,285 

220,3.53 

175,196 

49.283 

1,060.332 

1,786,847 


41 
3 

3 

1 

26 
40 


147,792 
3,900 
1,000 
3,000 

14,000 
151,246 


Noi-lli Carolina. .. 
South Carolina . .. 




Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Total 


6.^61,336 


4. 478,8.32 


7,133,187 


114 


320.938 


Now- York 


2,428,921 


5,118.777 


9 845.295 


323 


3,537,337 



The above is only given to indicate approximate general results ; for, 
as I shall subsequently show, the returns of the product of wool are inac- 
curate to the last degree. 

The question now arises, whence the immense dispaiity in the growth 
and manufacturing of wool in the State of New-York, comprising 46,000 
square miles of territory, and less than two and a half millions of popula- 
lation, and the ten States above enumerated, covering an area of 495,000 
square miles, and exceeding six millions of population 1 Is the growing of 
wool, (for we will first consider this, as the main question, leaving the sub- 
ject of manufacturing for subsequent examination,) to its present extent, 
profitable or unprofitable in the State of New-York ] I contend, and shall 
attempt to pi'ove, that taking a term of say ten or fifteen yeai's, it has been 
the most profitable branch of industry carried on in the State. If this is 
true, why is it not equally profitable in the Southern States 'I* Is there 
anything in their climate which rendere them less favorable to the health 
or wool-producing qualities of the sheep — or is there anything in their 
topographical features, soils, herbage, or other circumstances, which unfits 
them for a natural and easy adaptation to sheep husbandry ] Or have 
they other staples so much more profitable that it is not an object to gi'ow 
wool 1 

Having bestowed some attention on these points, and having been prac- 
tically familiar with the most minute details of sheep husbandry from my 
childhood, I have thought that the conclusions I have an'ived at, and the 
facts on which I have based them, might not be uninteresting to you. To 
bring these facts connectedly before you, I shall necessarily be driven to 
repeat some matter from my own and the writings of others, which you 
have doubtless before seen in the publications of the day. 
' Let us now take up the first of the two preceding questions ; and first I 
will call your attention to the effect of Climate. 

Sheep have been bred, time out of mind, on the Eastei'n Continent, 
from the Equator to the 65th degree of north latitude, from the burning 
plains of Africa and Asia, to the almost perpetual frosts cf Iceland. The 
Merino, (the different families of which, as wall be shown, constitute the 
only varieties suitable for wool growing on a scale of any considerable 
extent,) has been bred in Europe, for ages, as far south as between the 

* When I use the words ". 'Southern States," without farther specification, you will understand me to 
mean the ten enumerated in Table 1st. 



(651) 



C 



18 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



36th and 37th parallels of latitude, and has, within the last few years, been 
acclimated with perfect success as far north as various points in Sweden. 

If any difficulty exists in the climate of the United States, rendering it 
unsuitable for the rearing of sheep and wool, it must be its heat ; and this 
must afl'ect the wool-producing qualities of the animal alone, and not its 
health, as the following facts will show. There were upward of 060,000 
sheep in the five most soxithern States, in 1839. In Florida, they have 
been acclimated as far south as the 29th degree. In Louisiana, Mississippi, 
Alabama, and Georgia, they not only flourish in the northern and more 
elevated sections, but on the low, fenny, tide-water region which skirts the 
Gulf of Mexico. In the above five States there were, in 1839, upward of 
190,000 sheep below the 32d degree of latitude, viz. : in Georgia 32,986, 
Florida 7,198, Alabama 22,053, Mississippi 56,780, Louisiana 81,627.* 
They graze with equal impunity the vegetation on the margin of the 
Great Okefinokee Swamp (in Georgia and Florida) and on that which 
rankly flourishes among the ooze at the mouths of the Mississippi. It may 
interest sojnc less acquainted than you are, sir, with this subject, to know 
that in 1839 the county in which New-Orleans stands (Orleans) contained 
1,807 sheep; Jefi'erson, on the opposite side of the river, 6,871 ; St. Ber- 
nard, extending from Orleans to the Gulf, 1,154; Plaquemine, almost sur- 
, rounded by the waters of the Gulf, and comprising the delta of the Missis- 
sippi, 1,832 ; Lafourche Interior, on the Gulf, 1,253 ; Terrebonne, another 
Grulf county, 1,013; St. Mary's, another, 8,211 ; and La Fayette, another, 
2,622.t 

No portion of the United States is lower, hotter, or more unhealthy, 
than much of the preceding, and none, according to commonly received 
notions, would be more unsuited to the healthy production of sheep. Yet, 
that they are healthy in these situations is a matter of perfect notoriety to 
all conversant with the facts. So far as health is concerned, then, we are 
assuredly authorized to assume the position that no portion of the United 
States is too warm for sheep. 

We come now to the effect of climate on the wool-producing qualities 
of the animal. Assuming the census returns of the United States in 1840 
as reliable data, they would furnish strong proof that the wannth of the 
climate has a marked effect in diminishing the weight of wool per sheep ; 
and they have been adduced as furnishing conclusive evidence to that ef- 
fect, by persons more accustomed to broad assertion than patient investi- 
gation. 

The following will give the weight of wool per head in the States enu- 
merated in Tabic No. 1, estimated from the census returns of 1840 : 

TABLE No. 0. 



Lis. Oz. 

Vircrinia 1 7 845 

Norlli Carolina 1 2 2C!1 

South Carolina 1 3 539 

G.'ori.Ma 1 4 4S7 

Florida 1 410 



Lbs. 

Alabama 1 

Mississippi 1 

Louisiana 

Tennessee I 

Keniuckv 1 



Oz. 

4 146 
4 227 
8 040 
4 809 
6 971 



New-York 1 lb. 7 680 



But an examination of the census will show that so far as several of 
these States are concerned, it is entitled to very little credit, in this par- 
ticular, and that it is correct in relation to none of them. 

In Louisiana, in fouj-tecn counties from which 30,261 sheep, or nearly 
one-third in the whole State, are returned, not a pound of wool is returned. 

In Florida, four counties, returning 228 sheep, return no wool. Let us 

U. S. Ceneus, ISIC. t lb. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 19 

examine the comparative products, per head, as set forth in some of the 
counties from which i-eturns of sheep and wool are both made, with a view 
of testing their accuracy. Escambia returns 485 sheep, and 837 lbs. of 
wool ; Walton 386 sheep, and 575 lbs. of wool ; Leon 1,798 sheep, and 
3,360 lbs. of wool — or an approximation to 2 lbs. of wool per head. Nas- 
sau returns 436 sheep, and 1,200 lbs. of wool, or about 3 lbs. per head. 
On the other hand, Gadsden returns 1,875 sheep, and 512 lbs. of wool; 
Jefferson 752 sheep, and 300 lbs. of wool ; Madison 223 sheep, and 50 lbs. 
of wool; Jackson 960 sheep, and 376 lbs. of wool, or not quite a third of 
a pound per fleece ! Now Leon is bounded on the west by Gadsden, and 
on the east by Jefferson, and all lie in the same latitude, and do not differ 
essentially in their soil, herbage, or temperature ! Madison lies imme- 
diately east of Jefferson, (though its southern angle extends somewhat 
farther south,) and Jackson joins Walton. Nassau is in the same latitude. 
Hamilton, returning no sheep, returns the product as 20 lbs. of wool ! 

In Mississippi, eight counties returning 15,227 sheep, return no avooI; 
and there are repeated instances of the same glaringly obvious errors that 
have been exhibited in the statistics of Florida. For example. Smith 
county returns 741 sheep, and 1,067 lbs. of wool; Wayne 921 sheep, and 
1,466 lbs. of wool. Jasper, bounding Smith on the east, returns 1,848 
sheep, and 418 lbs. of Wool; and Clarke, bounding Wayne on the north, 
1,199 sheep, and 188 lbs. of wool ! By this, the sheep of Clarke shear loss 
than 3 oz. per head, while those of the next county shear over a pound 
and a half per head. There are various other instances of under returns 
in the State. 

In Alabama, two counties returning 2,138 sheep, return no wool; and 
in eight counties there are the same glaring instances of under returns with 
those given above. 

In Georgia there is but one omission to return the wool, where the 
sheep are returned. In that county there were 3,360 sheep. There are 
eight or nine instances of obvious under returns, but these in the aggre- 
gate of the State are partly balanced by two gross cases of over returns. 
Cobb county returns 3,524 sheep, and 36,057 lbs. of wool ; and Richmond 
758 sheep, and 3,032 lbs. of wool ! 

In South Carolina there are at least six instances of under returns. 

In North Carolina there are no returns of wool in one county, contain- 
ing 2,163 sheep, and in another 7,260 lbs. of wool are returned, and no 
sheep. There are ten cases of obvious under returns. In one of them 
46,340 sheep are made to yield but 12,686 lbs. of wool. 

In Virginia there are no omissions, and no obvious under returns. There 
are several over returns. 

In Tennessee there are no omissions, but there are seven obvious undei 
returns and two or three over returns. 

In Kentucky and New-York there are not sufficient eiToneous returns 
to materially vary the aggi-egate. 

The foregoing facts show that the INIarshals in many counties in the 
most southern States entirely neglected their duty in returning the pro 
duct of wool ; and where over or under returns have been made, it is 
pi'obable that, by a misapprehension of duty, the amount of wool on hand 
was ascertained and noted down, instead of the annual clip. 

And there is another and general error in these statistics, throughout all 
the States, by the census including in the number of sheep the lambs of 
the current season, which had not, of course, been sheared at the time of 
taking the census. A, at the time of taking the census, owned a flock of 
200 sheep over one year old, and 100 lambs. He would give in his flock 



20 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



/ 



to the Marshal as 300, of course, for the census makes no distinction be- 
tween lambs and grown sheej^. He gave in 600 lbs. of wool, which would 
be 3 lbs. per head for those which had been sheared. But by the lambs 
being included in the census returns, it is made to appear that his sheep 
sheared but 2 lbs. of wool per head. In the next census the lambs and 
sheep should be separately returned, not only to obtain accuracy, (without 
which such statistics are valueless,) but the annual increase thus indicated 
would be, of itself, an interesting and valuable statistic. 

In the preceding enumeration of erroneous returns, I have set down 
none as under returns where the product of wool has not been given as 
less than a pound per head ; and where it has fallen under that amount, 
the retui'ns from contiguous counties, possessing the same natural features, 
exhibiting a far superior product, as well as the general complexion of the 
returns throughout the State, have authorized me beyond a reasonable 
doubt so to consider it. I may add, that it is a fact of universal notoriety 
that there is no variety of sheep in any section of the United States, whick 
shears but a pound of wool per head.* A careful inspection of the census, 
moreover, will not fail to satisfy any one that there are a multitude of under 
returns, (not specified by me, as the product is given over 1 lb. of wool per 
head,) in most of the States. This is shown by the same kind of compari- 
sons which have already been alluded to. These are far more common in 
the extreme Southern States, where wool gi'owing had not yet (in 1839) 
been reduced to any system, and where sheep had been little looked after 
or regarded. These eiTors grow less, as we approach the wool-growing 
regions of the north and north-west. 

Taking those returns which we are authorized to consider con-ect,f it 
will appear that there is no gi-eat difference in the average product of wool, 
per head, in States separated by fi-om ten to fifteen degrees of latitude, 
and no more than is clearly referable to incidental or extraneous causes, 
unless we come to the conclusion that the difference is in favor of the 
Southern States. In proof of this, the following table is offered, giving 
the products of some of those counties in each of the States enumerated 
in Tables No. 1 and No. 2, which exhibit the highest averages per head, 
(excluding those obviously over returned.)| 



TABLE No. 3. 



State. 



County. 

C Fauquier — 

J Hanison 

} Ohio 

(_ Rockingham 

f Currituck . . 
J Person . — 
j Perquimans 
[Tyrrel 



Average Weight of Wool 
per Sfietp, 



Total average of 
the Counties givenW 



Virginia 



North Carolina. 



Lbs. 

2 
2 
2 

9 



Oz. 
912 5.0 
'^7011 
n_?_0_5_6_ 
"35 119 
9JLQ_5i>_ 
'^26 689 
■14 6 49 
^4 7 91 



9 7i.l3^ 
"^ '459 
9 'i_9JL3_ 
"^ ^^302 7 

1 -192292 

^ -^"23^3 

^ '^ 1 9 4 7 



2 11 



* I consider such to be under returns, independent of the mistake made by including lambs in the 
enumeration, 

t With the exception of the error arising from the return of lambs — which perhaps would not greatly 
vary the proportionable result. 

Jit is proper to say that though I designed to i^Ve the hishest avcraces, I did not go through a formal 
reckoning of the average in every county in the eleven States. I took those which appeared the highest, 
after a somewhat careful general inspection. 

U Excluding the fractions of the ounces in preceding column. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



21 



TABLE No. 3— (Continued.) 



State. County. 


Average VVeiglU of Wool 
per Slieep. 


:/'o«ai average of 
the Counties given. 


r Beaufort 

c, - ^ V Darlington 

South Carolina <( ^ ° 

I Georgetown 

/ Richland 


Lbs. Oz. 
9 1910 9 4 

2 

1 19118 

^ -^-"isii 


Lbs. Oz. 

2 3 


r Bibb 


9 o 30G 

2 10^V3 

9 133 

-^^ -^49 


2 31- 


^ . 1 MuiTay 

^^°^g^^ i Twiggs 

[Ware 


C Escambia 

Florida •{ Leon 

C. Nassau 


1 11 -'^ 
1 1 O809 
■^ -'•'^¥9 9 

9 ^'i '^0 


2 If 


C Blount 

. , , J Jackson 

^1^^^™^ i Autauga 

(^ Greene 


1 15-1-^ 

2 6f3.ao 

6 o o 1 
1 15JL9_3_ 

9 2 6 8 
'^ '^4 74 9 


2 1 


C Claiborne 

,,.... j Hinds 

Mississippi i pg^^.y 

(^ Warren 


9 72111. 
■^ '65^7 

3 

2 

2 nil 


2 71 


- . . J St. Helena 

|j ninsi ana, ...... ..."N ri m 


2 15iH 

1 71361 
^ ' 1 51 3 
9 123 
-^ ^25 

1 14J-^ 

^ ^^21 


2 11 


j^uuibidud, gj_ Tammany . . 
(_ Washington . . . 


r De Kalb 

rr, j Franklin 

Tennessee ^ g^j^^^ 


9 918 2 
'^ '^T2'9' 
9 7617 9 

9 0^91 
9 915 4 6 

^ -^TaTog 


2 2f 


r Bourbon 

,^ , 1 Clarke 

K^^t'^^^y ^Lawrence 

Scott 


9 113 897 
-^ J-23 719 
9 11 9133 
"^ ■*^-^20953 
9 102955 

2 6t^«tV9 


2 7f 


L '-'^"^'' 


C Westchester . . 

New- York < q ^ V^ 

(_ Orleans 


2 10^W3 
2 5^/5 

9 5 7 6 6 
^6041 
9 94 2 15 4 
-^ -^6 9 5 63" 


2 5 



Taking these averages as a test, it would appear that the difference 
between the average products of the Southern States and New York is, in 
some instances, in favor of the former. Kentucky in the middle, and Mis- 
sissippi in the extreme South, exceed the average of New York. 

It is proper to say, however, that various local circumstances may have 
eifected these results, and that taking the average of a considerable num- 
ber of counties, in the several States, would essentially vary them. Not- 
withstanding this, the testimony which they ofter is important, and be- 
comes more so regarded in connection with another circumstance. The 
comparative statistics of the extreme Southern States themselves show 
that in a majority of cases their best products of wool come from their 
Southern and warmer counties. 

Of the four counties in Louisiana, the product of which is given above. 



22 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

the most northern lies between the Slst and 32d degrees of latitude, and 
all of the other three south of latitude 31°. St. Tammany, which exhibits 
the second best product, borders on Lake Pontchartrain. The State ex- 
tends north to latitude 33°. 

In Florida, all the counties given lie in the same latitudes. 

Mississippi extends north to latitude 35°. All the counties given are 
south of 32° 30', and one in latitude 31°. 
I' In Alabama, extending north to the same latitude with the above, two 
of the counties given ax'e in the noitheni or mountain region, and two of 
them south of 33°. 

In G eorgia, (same northern line,) one of the counties given is in the ex- 
treme north, two south of 33° and one in latitude 31°, being the county 
in which lies the major portion of the Great Okefinokee Swamp ! 

In South Carolina, two of the counties (both bordering on the ocean) 
are in the low, marshy, tide-water region ; and the other two are in the 
central region. 

In North Carolina,two of the counties given join the ocean ; one is on Albe- 
marle Sound, while one lies inthecentral and northern portion of the State. 

In comparing the product of wool in the Southern States with that of 
the Northern — and more particularly with that of New-York — we must 
not lose sight of the fact that in the latter wool gi'owing has become an 
important business, and is reduced to a system. The sheep are kept in 
pastures, and are sheared at regular intei-vals. In the Carolinas, Georgia, 
and the Gulf States, precisely the reverse of all this was generally ti-ue, 
at least up to the year 1839. The sheep were little cared for; were suf- 
fered to breed promiscuously ; and they roamed at large through forests, 
where, as the warm season advanced in the spring, their wool, beginning 
to detach itself, was left on shrubs and brambles, and in not rare instances 
considerable portions of it were thus lost prior to shearing.* 

Giving their due weight to the preceding facts, the defects in the census, 
etc., it is, I think, undeniable that they account for all the deficiency in 
the average product of wool per sheep in our most southern States, com- 
pared with that of New-York, as set forth in Table No. 2. Indeed, sir, 
my OAvn convictions are decided, and the facts reported appear to fully 
sustain them, that warmth of temperature, at least to a point equaling the 
highest mean temperature in the United States, is not injurious, but abso- 
lutely conducive to the production of wool. The causes of this are in- 
volved in no mystery. Warm climates afford gieen and succulent hei'b- 
age during a greater portion of the year than cold ones. Sheep plentifully 
supplied with gi'een herbage keep in higher condition than when confined 
to that which is dry. High condition promotes those secretions which form 
wool. Every one at all conversant with sheep well knows that if kept 
fleshy the year round, they produce far more wool than if kept poor. A 
half a pound's difference per head is readily made in this way. AVithin 
the maximum and minimum of the product of a sheep or a flock, the ra- 
tio of production always coincides with that of condition. 

I have dwelt on this point at great and perhaps tedious length, sir, as 
the results set forth in the United States Census, unexplained, would 
clearly point to a different conclusion from that to which I have arrived. 
To invalidate testimony, ostensibly so certain and reliable, as well as to 
combat deep-rooted prejudices, I have deemed it necessary to scan thor- 
oughly the accessible facts in the case. 



* I make no account of difference in breeds, as affecting the product of wool between the South and 
North. The ijrade Merinos, not uncommon in New-York, would produce far more wool than the " na. 
lives," the principal sheep in the South in 1839. But the latter would equal or exceed the product of the 
Bumeroua Saxon tlocks of New-York. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 23 



LETTER n. 

EFFECT OF CLIMATE, CONTINUED. 



Kffectof Climate on quality of Wool... Warmth of Climate renders VWooI coarser — Reasons ... Eftect of 
Herbage. ..Opinions of Youalt — Doctor Parry — English Staplers — Writer.. .Can the tendency to gro\v 
coarser be resisted ?.. .Opinions of Youatt — Lasteyrie — Mr. Lawrence. . .Experiment in Australia— Cape of 
Good Hope — South of niinois— Kentucky — Tennessee — Mississippi— New-York. ..Warm Climates render 
Wools softer and lonser, thus adding materially to their value. . .Proved to be the case in Australia. . .Tes- 
timony of English Wool-factors and Staplers. ..Same effect produced in the United States... Testimony 
of Mr. Cockrill. 

Dear Sir : We come now to discuss the effect of Climate on the quahty 
of Wool. 

There can be but little doubt, other things being equal, that the pelage 
of the Sheep and some other animals, becomes finer in cold climates and 
coarser in warm ones. This is usually attributed, by theoretical writers, 
to the effect of cold and heat in contracting or expanding the pores. This 
may have some effect, but to suppose that the delicate tissues of the skin 
can act, to any great extent, mechanically, in compressing the harder and 
highly elastic ones of the hair or wool, or compel their attenuation so as 
to permit their escape through diminished apertures, like the process of 
wire drawing, is, it seems to me, to assume that matter acts contrary to 
its ordinary laws. I am rather disposed to look for the causes of this 
phenomenon, in the amount and quality of the nutriment received by the 
animal. It was stated, in my preceding letter, that warm climates, by 
affording succulent herbage during a greater portion of the year, maintain 
in greater activity those secretions which form wool, and thus increase the 
quantity or weight of the fleece. The weight is increased by increasing 
the length and thickness of the separate fibres, just as plants put forth 
longer and thicker stems on rich soils than on poor ones. 

Mr. Youatt, in his excellent and much quoted work on Sheep, after dis- 
cussing and admitting, to a certain extent, the influence of warm temper- 
atures in rendering wool coarser, says : 

" Pasture has a far grep^ter infliieuce on the fineness of the fleece. Tlie staple of the wool, 
like every other part of the sheep, must increase in length or in bulk when the animal has 
a superabundance of nutriment ; and, on the other hand, the secretion which forms the wool 
must decrease like every other, when sufficient nourishment is not aifordeil. When little 
cold has been experienced in the winter, and vegetation has been scarcely checked, the 
sheep yield an abimdant crop of wool, but the fleece is perce]itibly coarser as well as 
heavier. When frost has been severe and the gi-otiud long covered with snow — if the flock 
has been fairly supplied with nutriment, although the fleece may have lost a little in weight, 
it will have acquired a superior degree of fineness and a proportionate increase of value. 
Shoidd, however, the sheep have been neglected and starved during this prolongation of 
cold weather, the fleece as weU as the carcass is thinner ; and although it may have pre- 
served its smallness of filament, it has lo.st in weight and strength and usefulness. These 
are self-e-vident facts, and need not be enforced by any labored argument."* 

Doct. Parry, a connect and able English writer, remarks : 

" Sheep breeders have observed a sort of gross connection between the food and quality 
of the fleece. . . . The fineness of a sheep's fleece of a given breed is, within certain 
limits, inversely as its fatness, and perhaps also (although I am not certain on this point) as 
the quickness with which it grows fat. A sheep which is fat has usually comparatively 
coarse wool, and one which is lean, either from want of food or disease, has the finest wool ; 
and the very same sheep may at diflerent times, accordnig to these circumstances, have 
fleeces of all the intermediate qualities from exti-eme fineness to comparative coarseness." 



Youatt on Sheep, p. 70. 



24 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

In an examination before the English House of Lords, in 1828, various 
eminent staplers* testify, most decidedly, to the deterioration (in fineness) 
of the British wools and their increase in length of staple, " since the 
introduction of artificial food and the adoption of the forcing system." 

]My own observations fully coiToborate these positions. I have exam- 
ined, in repeated instances, with a good microscope, the wool of individ- 
ual sheep in my flock, taken in seasons when they have maintained a high 
condition, and in others, when, from some incidental cause they have been 
in ordinary or poor condition, and the difference in length and fineness is, 
uniformly, distinctly perceptible 

If the sheep breeder in warm climates can take advantage of the ten 
dency to produce greater quantities of wool, following that supply of suc- 
culent herbage throughout the year which Nature has placed at his disposal, 
and at the 'same time, by any unexpensive means which he can employ, 
combat the correlative tendency to increased coarseness of fibre, he has 
most assuredly, other things being equal, an entire advantage over the 
breeder in colder regions. 

We come now to the important inquiiy. Can this latter tendency be 
successfully combated ; or, in other words, can wool of any desirable 
fineness be produced in countries as warm, for example, as Louisiana, 
Mississippi, &:c. 1 

Let us examine IMr. Youatt's testimony on this point also. He says : 

" Temperature ami pasture have influence on the fineness of the fibre, and one whicli the 
farmer shoulcl never disregard ; but he may, in a great measure, counteract this influence by 
careful management and selection in breeding. ... A better ilhislration of tliis cannot 
be found than in the fact that tlie Merino has been transplanted to every latitude on the 
temperate zone, and some beyond it — to Sw^eden in the North and Australia in the South — 
and has retained its tendency to produce wool exclusively, and wool of nearly equal fineness 
and value. "t 

Mr. Lasteyrie, equally good authority, uses the following language. 
When he speaks of the preservation of the breed in its " utmost purity," 
we are undoubtedly to understand him to refer as much to the fineness of 
the wool as any other point, this being the distinguishing mark or excel- 
lence of the breed. 

" The preservation of the Merino race in its utmost ]>ui-ity at the Cape of Good Hope, in 
the marshes of Holland, and under the rigorous climate of Sweden, furnish an additional 
support of this, my nnalteralile principle : fine wool sheep may be kept wherever inteUi 
geiit breeders e.xist."}: 

Samuel Lawrence, Esq. the head of the great Lowell Manufacturing 
Company, in Massachusetts, who, by his vast purchases of fine wool in all 
parts of the LTnited States for a long term of years, and his intimate prac- 
tical acquaintance with the quality of the article, is entitled to have his 
opinion on this point regarded as of as great weight as that of any other 
individual, says : 

" That the properties of wool are affected by herbage and soil, I have not a doubt, and 
•were it not invidious, I would name some sections where wool gi'owers are gi-eatly favored 
by Nature. One thing is certain, whatever may be the character of the soil, where there 
are good shepherds there is sure to be found good wool. By judicious selections and cross- 
ing. I believe a breed may be reared which wUl give fom* pomids of exquisitely fine wool 
to tlie fleece. "II 

This last sentence of this important extract, though not bearing so par- 
ticularly on the point under examination, is recorded in its original con- 
nection for subsequent reference. 

Australia and the Cape of Good Hope being cited by the distinguished 



* Yoaatt on Sheep, p. 71, where the names and testimony of these individuals are given ; and more at 
lenpth in Bisohoff on Wools. &c., vol. ii. pp. lis— 200. t Pp- 69—70. 

j Lasteyrie on Merino Sheep, p. 101. 1| Letter of Mr. L., published in " American Shepherd," p. 436. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



25 



English and French writers above quoted, as offering instances of the per- 
fectly successful acclimation of Merinos, without deterioration of their 
wool, in warm climates, it may be well to inquire a little more particularly 
what the climate of those countries is ; and what, if any, the other cir- 
cumstances connected with them, having an influence on the quality of 
the wools grown in them. 

Port Jackson, in Australia, in the vicinity of which the Merinos were 
fii'St introduced, and are now extensively bred, lies in 33° 55' South lati- 
tude, corresponding as nearly with the latitude of Georgetown, South 
Carolina, as that of any othei important point in our country.* In de 
scribing this region (New South Wales) Malte Brun says : 

" The coast itself is high but not mouutainous ; tuid it is partly shaded by trees of gigantic 
size. Toward the south-cast a great part is covered with coppice ; much also is occupied 
■with marshes. About Botany Bayt the soil is black, rich and exceedingly productive in 
plants. The north-east part seems lower. The coast is covered with mangroves. . . . 
The heat of December rises to 1 12^^ Fahrenheit. The forests and the grass have been knov^'n 
spontaneously to take fire.t The North-west wuid, like the Khamseen of Egj'pt, scorches 
the soil and reduces it to a light dust. . . . Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the 
climate is very healthy, and veiy favorable to population. . . . Those parts in which 
different ti-ials have been made have rather too wann a climate for common barley and oats, 
though these grains have been found to succeed tolerably well on the poorer soils. . . 
All the vegetables grown in Eugland are produced in the English colony. . . Peaches, 
apricots, nectarines, oranges, lemons, guavas, loquets, cherries, wahiuts, almonds, grape*, 
peai's, pomegranates and melons attain the highest maturity in the open air."|| 

The country, most of it, is remarkably deficient in water, § though many 
portions are subject to destructive inundations.^ Its drouths are unequaled 
for their duration and intensity in, perhaps, any inhabited portion of the 
globe.** Its vast plains, occasionally highly fertile, but more usually, only 
in detached spots, afford pasture throughout the year. 

The physical features of this country, its system of sheep husbandry, 
etc. will be more particularly alluded to hereafter. 

The English first introduced into this remote possession the coarse hairy 
sheep of Bengal. In the short space of three years these were so far 
changed by the effect of the climate and other circumstances, that their 
hair was entirely gone, and was succeeded by a fleece of wool.tt The 
South-Down and Leicesters were subsequently introduced, and their 
crosses with the Bengal sheep soon became as fine as the pure bloods of 
the former. At length some Merinqs were imported by the colonists, 
and, says Mr. Youatt, " The experiment was satisfactory beyond their ex- 
pectation. The third or fourth cross with the then prevalent sheep of the 
colony produced an animal with a fleece equal to that of the pure Merino 
in Europe ; and the wool of the pure blood seemed to improve as rapidly 
as the native breed had done."|| In 1810, the export of wool from Aus- 
tralia and Van Dieman's Land was 167 lbs.; in 1833, it had reached 
3,516,869 Ibs.llll In 1843, it amounted to 16,226,400 lbs.§§ 

The following, from a table in McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce, 
will show the cuiTent prices (reduced to American currency) of some of 
the imported and domestic wools, in London, March, 1834 : 



Spanish....,., 


$ CtS. $ Ct8. 

. . per lb. — 60 to — 77 


English : $ cts. $ eta. 
North & South-Down, per lb. — 44 to — 48 


Portuguese 


— 44 '• — 62 


German, Saxon, &c . 
Australian 


— AS " 1 15 

- . — Hfi " 1 no 


Lincoln, Cotswold, Ilomney 

Marsh 40 " 44 







* Georgetown is perhaps half a degi-ee nearer the Equator, 
t This place is twelve miles south of Port Jackson. 

X Malte Bran cites Collins (on author frequently quoted in relation to New South Wales) for this strong 
end, perhaps, exaggerated assertion. || Malte Brun, vol. i. pp. 600—605. 

§ Spooner, Youatt, etc. TJ Malte Brun. ** See McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, 

ft Youatt on .Sheep, p 184. Spooner, Diseases of Sheep, p. 62. 

tt lb. p. 184. III! lb. et Spooner. §§ Spooner. 

(659) Y) 



26 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

It will be 8een from this, that the best Australian wools already excelled, 
the best Spanish, and were more than midway between them and the best 
Saxon. When we consider the almost infinite difference in the care, both 
in breeding and management, bestowed on the Saxon and Australian sheep, 
it shows most conclusively the adaptation of the climate of Austi-alia to 
the production of the finest wool — or, at least, that the adverse effects of 
its warm temperature, and the incidents to that temperature, are easily 
overcome. Iri-Saxony, sheep are numbered, oftentimes their separate ped- 
igrees registered, and each breeding ewe is stinted to a ram carefully se- 
lected with reference to her individual qualities. In Australia, where less 
capital and labor are employed, flocks of about three hundred breeding 
ewes* — where the country is destitute of timber, sometimes a thousandt — 
loam from one fertile and watered spot to another over the vast plains, in 
charge of the convict shepherd ; and this system is followed throughout 
the year, including the tupping season. Three flocks are always penned 
together at night,| so that as many as nine hundred breeding ewes, of va- 
lying quality, must be promiscuously bred to, say, fi-om thirty to thirty-five 
lams, running promiscuously among them. 

The Cape of Good Hope is in south latitude 34"^ 23' 40". 

Mr. Youatt, in describing the sheep husbandry of this region, overesti- 
mated, I think, the heat of the climate. Separated by lofty mountain 
ranges from the interior of Africa, the fertile I'egions adjoining the coast 
are not swept by its scorching winds, and the lemperature is comparatively 
mild. " In a meteorological register kept at Cape Town, from Sept. 1818 
to Sept. 1821, embracing a period of three years, the highest heat marked 
is 96^, the lowest 45°, Fahrenheit. The mean and annual temperature 
scarcely 68° — of winter 61°, of summer 89°. "|| But sheep and their wool 
suffer from the fine sands which are lifted and driven by the prevailing 
winds. Says Make Brun, " the wind blows often from tlie south-east with 
great violence. Nothing can be secured from the sands which it drives 
before it ; they penetrate the closest apartments and the best-closed trunk?. 
At this time it is not prudent to go out without glasses, lest the eyes should 
be injured. "§ 

Though the climate can scarcely be designated a " torrid " one, as Mr. 
Youatt speaks of it, the mean temperature of its v/inter (61°) conclusively 
shows that cold can have nothing to do here with rendering the wool finei 
by a contraction of the pores, if, therefore, it can be shown that the wool 
of the fine breeds does not deteriorate in quality, it sufliciently proves that 
Australia is not an incidental exception in the testimony which it presents 
on the point under examination, but that it illustrates the uniform opera- 
tion of the physical laws which pertain to the gi'owth of wool. 

After one or two unsuccessful attempts, the Merinos were acclimated 
at the Cape by the English colonists. In 1804, the colony numbered 536,- 
634 sheep. In 1811, there were 1,293,740. In 1810, the iinport of wool 
into Great Britain was 29,717 lbs.; in 1833, it was 93,325 Ibs.^f 
j In Willmer & Smith's " Liverpool Annual Wool Report," for 1846, it 
' is stated, " The shipments from this quarter (Cape of Good Hope) show 
•* gi"eat improvement, amply testified by the high rates the best flocks have 
commanded during the season. . . The best parcels now take rank 
with those from Australia."** The system of breeding and general man- 
agement at the Caue closely correspond with those of Australia. 

Let us now, sir, turn to the expeiience of our own countiy. I do not 

* Cnnnintrham'8 "Two Years in South Wales." t lb. J lb. 

II Malte Brun, vol. ii. p. 112. ^ Jb. vol. ii. p. IIO. 

If Youatt on Sheep, p. 184. ** Willuier & Smith's European Times of Jan. '1, 1S16. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 27 

know that a sufficient number of experiments have been made as near the 
Equator as Cape Town and Port Jacksop, to have their testimony regard- 
ed as entirely decisive on the point under consideration, but those have 
been made which throw much Hght on this question, if, indeed, any more 
is considered necessary. In the south of IlUnois (Edwards county), in 
about latitude 38*^ 30', the finest varieties of sheep were introduced by 
Mr. George Flower, about twenty years since, from which he has bred up 
an extensive flock. That gentleman says :* " No deterioration in the wool 
has taken place ; on the contrary, the wool fibre is somewhat finer." I 
have myself seen various specimens of Mr. Flower's wool, of the clip of 
1844, and it bore an excellent character for fineness and evenness. 

In a letter which I received from Hon. Henry Clay, in 1839, he says : 
" I have for some years had only the pure Saxony at my residence ; but I 
am now satisfied that I should have derived more profit from sheep pro- 
ducing a wool less fine.t The climate of Kentucky is, however, well 
adapted to the Saxon sheep." Mr. Clay's residence is in about latitude 38^. 

Mr. Mark R. Cockrill, of Nashville, Teimessee, in a letter published in 
the American She23herd,| says : 

" I have about a thousand head of fine sheep, and from 400 to 500 lonsf-wooled or mutton 
sheep. My Saxon sheep were iinj)orted m 1824 or '26 — I caiuiot say which — and I find as 
yet no falling oif m quantity or quality of their fleeces ; on the contraiy, I believe a little 
improvement on both points, and a little more yolk, when well provided lor, which, you 
know, does not abound much in the Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a little more 
compact than formerly — hence more weight ; and, from our mild climate, the xtaple has be- 
come longer. . . I assert it to be a fact that the cotton region I am now in [Mr. Cockrill 
dates from Madison county, Mississippi, where a part of his sheep are ke{)t], in about lati- 
tude 32° nortli, is better than any country north of it to grow wool, as the sheep can be kept 
all the time grazing, by sowing small gi'ain ; for, if grazed off, it quickly grows again in a 
few days ; and the wool of the fine Saxon sheep in this climate is softer and more cotton-like 
than any I have ever seen, although I have samples fi-om all parts oi' the world. I have 
ti-aveled from this very place to Boston, sampling all tlie sheep of note on the way, and I 
found nothing on my jouniey or at Boston as good as the wool I had grown, and so said all 
the wool stiiplers whom I met with, and they were not a few. I presumed, in reaUty, that 
the blood of my sheep was no better than niMiy I saw, but the superiority of my wool I as- 
cribed to our climate, and the provision fjr the sheep of succulent food the year round. — 
The weight of my fleeces is fiiir — say from 3 to 5^ lbs. each. . . Tennessee is not the ti'ue 

frass clunate ; about 28° north is the most congenial for gi-ass : notwith.-itanding, our State is 
lir for pasture ; blue and orchard grass, white and red clover, prosper pretty well. . . 
There is much country in Temiessee and other Southern States not fit for the plow, and 
would do admirably well for fine-wooled sheep, and can be profitably so employed. A small 
capital thus appropriated here in Mississippi would do better than cotton gi'owuig at present 
prices." 

Nashville is in about latitude 37'^ 15' ; and Madison county, Mississippi, 
is about half a degree farther north than mentioned by Mr. Cockrill, viz. 
extending from 32^° to 33^; its county seat (Canton) being more than a 
degree nearer the Equator than Port Jackson in Australia, and about two 
degrees nearer than the Cape of Good Hope ! 

Mr. Morrel, the compiler of the " American Shepherd," has obtained 
specimens of Mr. Cockrill's wool, and he says of them, " Judging from the 
samples, the conclusion is inevitable that little or no deterioration has been 
produced by the climate."|| 

This testimony of Mr. Cockrill is very important, both from the length 
and extent of the experiment. I have no doubt of the perfect coiTectness 
of his assertion that his wool has improved in those low latitudes ; but the 
cause assigned by him cannot be received as the correct one, so far as the 
increased fineness of the fibre is concerned. The imprc ^ ^ment in this par- 
ticular, under a system of feeding which has "increased" both the " quan- 

* In a letter published in the Prairie Farmer. t Mr. Clay here alludes to the Merinos. 
J P. 409. II American Shepherd, p. 41. 



2^8 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

tity" and the " yolk" of the fleece, cannot be ascribed to the climate, nor 
to the feeding itself. It is undoubtedly owing to Mr. C.'s system of breed- 
ing and selection, a point Avhich will be fully discussed hereafter. 

If feed or condition exercise the principal influence on the fineness of 
wool (that is, within the range of variation to which it is subject on the 
same individuals), it follows that the effect may be produced in any climate, 
for high condition throughout the year is attainable in the most rigorous 
ones, by the supply of plentiful and rich food. The wool secretions are 
incident on condition — fatness, however superinduced.* It again follows 
that if wool of the highest degree of fineness (for the breed) can be pro- 
duced in New- York, although the sheep is kept in a decidedly fat state 
throughout the year — quite as fat as it would become, grazing on green 
feed all the year round — that wool of equal fineness can be produced by 
the observance of the same influencing conditions (apart from feed) by the 
southern breeder. 

Here again, undeterred by any considerations of what I deem a false 
modesty, I shall offer facts founded on my own personal exjDorience as a 
sheep breeder ; and I would remark, once for all, that throughout the 
whole of these letters I shall never so far prefer beliefs founded on the as- 
sertions of others, to actual knoiclcclge, based on facts repeatedly and con- 
stantly brought under my personal inspection, for a number of years, as 
to suppress the latter, to rely solely on the former. 

I have succeeded, in repeated instances, in producing an exquisite qual- 
ity of wool, decidedly above the average of the breed (Merino) in the 
heavy fleeces of sheep kept fat the year round. I have made it a sort of 
a test latterly, in the selection of rams, to choose only those which not 
only carry heavy fleeces, in any condition, but which, in the highest, yield 
a wool equaling the choicest samples to be found on this variety. These 
facts will, by and by, be placed in a definite and tangible form, by the re- 
corded testimony of the scales and the microscope. 

But though the natural effects of warm climates and their incidents, to 
increase the bulk or coarseness of the fibre, is one which can easily be re- 
sisted, they work a change of another kind in the character of wool. They 
cause a longer fibre and a greater softness of staple. The effect of succu- 
lent nutriment during the year in increasing the amount of the wool Avill 
exhiliit itself; but the skill of the breeder can so far regulate its action, 
that the increase is in the length, rather than in the diameter or bulk of the 
fibres. It is not difficult to conjecture why a staple of more rapid growth, 
supplied to excess with the secretions which enter into its composition, un- 
exposed to gi'eat and rapid variations of temperature, should retain a 
greater degi'ee of softness than one produced under opposite conditions. 
But, whatever the causes of these phenomena, theii" existence is placed 
beyond a doubt. 

Tlie increased Icnsfli, of staple, resulting from the nutriment of warm 
climates, has been sufficiently adverted to. The following statements made 
by some of the most eminent wool-factors, staplers, etc. in England, before 
a Committee of the House of Lords, in 1828, place the other point beyond 
controversy.t 

Mr. Henry Hughes, wool-broker, London, says : 



* No one lias assorterl, so far as I am informed, that dry feed will produce less ■wool than preen feed, if 
the same decree of fatness is kept up. On the other hand, the rich cereal grains, oil-cake, &c. (without 
some of which a hiirh decree of fatnt^ss cannot he maintained, on dry feed alone, during the four or five 
months' winter in latitudes north of •l^i'"), might be supposed to be quite as conducive to the production of 
wool as glasses. 

t For extended minutes of this very interesting investisation into the state of the wool-trade, &c. &c. in 
Great Britain, see Bischofl" on Wool, &.C., vol. ii. p. 118 to 200. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 29 

^ » . ,__, 

" Latterly they (Austi-alian and Van Diemau's Land wools) have been of varied qualities, 
but all possessing an exti-aordinaiy softness, which the manufactm-ers here so much adaniie 
that they are sougiit tor more than any otljer description of wools, from that peculiar quality, 
which is sup[iosed to arise ii-om the climate alone. They ai'e kuowni to require less of the 
milhug or lulling power than any other descriptions of wools. . . They are better adapted 
than the Gennan wools to mix with British wools, because the superior soitness which 1 
have stilted gives a character, when mixed with English wool, that the other does not, from 
the hardness of the tibre."* 

Mr. Stewart Donaldson, merchant, London, says : 

" I have no hesitation ui pronouncing that the wools of New South Wales and Van Die- 
man's Land are decidedly prefeired to the apparently similar descriptions of German wool. 
. . . They have a softness and silkuiess about them which, when worked up into cloth, 
shows itself more distinctly than hi the raw material. 1 conceive that it is dependent on the 
climate alone. I am of opuiiou that wool of that quality could not be produced in any pait 
of Europe. "t 

Mr. Thomas Legg, wool-stapler, Bermondsey, says : « 

•' There ai'e some of these wools of veiy beautiful quality, as good as any of the Gennan 

wools, "t 

Mr. Thomas Ebsworth, wool-broker, London, says : 

" The peculiarity of the climate of New South ^Vales apjieai's to have a very great effect 
on wool, so as to reduce it from a harslmess to a veiy fine texture. "|| 

This was the substance of all the testimony on this particular point ; 
and when it is understood that the investigation was an issue between rival 
interests, where all the facts were thoroughly sifted, the fact that the above 
assertions were undisputed shows that they were considered of an undis- 
putable character. 

Allusion has already been made to the loose and careless system of 
sheep-breeding, etc. in Australia, compared with that in Germany. Tak- 
ing this into consideration ; taking also into consideration that the flock 
furnishing the best wool in Australia (Capt. McArthur's) is composed of 
grade eheep (Bengal and English, graded up with Merino and Saxon rams), 
the trifling effect of climate is inade more strikingly to appear. 

The statements of Mr. Cockrill in relation to the sofi;ness of the wools 
grown in Tennessee and Mississippi, sustain and are sustained by those 
above given ; and they go to show that it is the result of a general law 
and not of any peculiar local influences peculiar to Australia 



• Bischoff on Wool, &c. vol. ii pp. 182-3. t Ibid. 183-4. % Ibid. 184. I| Ibid. 184. 



30 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER in. 

ADAPTATION OF THE SOILS, HERBAGE, &c. OF THE SOUTHERN STATES TO 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. U OF THE LOW OR TIDE-WATER REGION. 



Natural Features of the Southern States— Divided into three Zones... The Natural Features, Soils, &c. of 
each... The Tide- water Zone— its destitution of Anificial Tastures and Meadows. . .Causes— Small amount 
of Domestic Stock kept — Unsuccessful Experiments in raising Clover and Grasses. ..Reasons why those 
Experiments were unsuccessful— Land too much Exhausted by Severe Tillage — System of Tillage com- 
pared with that of tl|e Grazing Regions of New-York- -Experiments unsuccessful, also, because improper 
varieties of Clover and Grass were tried. ..Much of the Land adapted to Grass— Shown by its Natural Pas- 
tures — Statements of Col. Allston — Opinions of Mr. Ruffin— of a Committee of the S. C. Agricultural Soci- 
ety. ..Land compared with that of Flanders- also with some pans of New- York. ..Climate perhaps unfa- 
vorable to certain Northern Grasses and to Red Clover — Opinion of Mr. Ruffin — Statements of Milton (S. 
C.) Agricultural Society- ..Clover not indispensable. ..Experiments suggested. ..Valuable indigenous and 
acclimated Grasses-Crab Grass — Millet — Bermuda Grass— its great value— Statements of Mr. .4ifleck. .. 
Peas — Their great value in the Southern States as a Green Crop Manure — Sprengel's Analysis of them — 
The Value of their Straw as a Manure compared with various substances — Table of the Value of Manures 
by Payen and Boussingault... Oats, Rye and Barley — Com Blades — Sweet Potatoes. ..Conclusions froM 
foregoing. 

Dear Sir : Having discussed, in my previous letters, the effects of vs^arm 
climates and some of their incidents, on the health of sheep, and on the 
quantity and quality of their wool, we come now to the second branch of 
my original inquiry — Is there anything in the natural features, soils, herb- 
age, &c. of the Southern States, which unfits them for a natural and easy 
adaptation to sheep husbandry l 

The vast region south of the Ohio and Potomac, and west of the Missis- 
sippi — comprising an area considerably exceeding that of France, Spain 
and Portugal* — is distinguished, by its natural features, into three distinct 
zones, parallel to each other and to the Atlantic coast. 

The lower or tide-water zone, which skirts the Atlantic, is a low, flat, 
'?andy, and oftentimes marshy plain, from 50 to 100 miles wide, compara- 
tively recent (tertiary) in its formation, and covered with pine forests ovejc 
the greatest portion of its extent. The soils on the dry lands are generally 
light, and sometimes too sterile to admit of profitable cultivation ; that in 
the swamps and river bottoms, where the sand is replaced by a rich allu- 
vion, is exceedingly fertile. The middle or hilly zone rises from the level 
of the preceding, first into gentle hills, and finally into high and oftentimes 
broken ground, as it approaches the mountains. The width of this does 
not greatly vary from that of the preceding. The formation is almost ex- 
clusively primary ;t and the soil varies, sometimes being poor, but more 
generally ranging, in its natural state, from medium to highly fertile. The 
forests consist of oak and other deciduous trees. The third or mountain 
region is formed by the different chains and groups of the great Apalach- 
ian range of mountains, and occupies not far from 70,000 square miles of 
the central portion of the territory under consideration.^ It comprises the 
middle of Virginia, the west of North Cai'olina and South Carolina, the 
noith of Georgia and Alabama, and the east of Tennessee and Kentucky. 
Its formation on the eastern declivities of the Blue Ridge (the most east- 
em chain) is primary, and thence to the Alleganies the rocks belong to 

* Spain contains 170,000 square miles, Portugal 40,000, France 200,000— in all 410,000. Allowing 10,000 
square miles of Louisiana to be east of the Mississippi, the area of the region referred to is 456,000 square 
jniles. 

t There are one or two interrupted belts of new red sandstone — vide McClure. 

J Estimated not far, I think, from correctly, by myself. I can tind no authority on this point. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 31 

the Transition order.* Its soil varies from thin and h'ght to that of exu- 
berant fertility. West of the mountains, the hilly zone rests on Transition 
rocks and coal measures, and is succeeded west and south of Virginia by 
the vast rolling or level plains which extend to the Ohio and Mississippi ; 
and which, instead of the silicious sands of the eastern coast, exhibit rich 
and varying soils resting on limestone and other Transition and Cretaceous 
rocks. In Virginia, the hilly region, which is one vast coal measure, extends 
to the bottom lands of the Ohio ; and its soils, taken as a whole, range from 
ordinary to meager.t 

We will now proceed to examine the capabilities and adaptation of each 
acne, separately, for the pui-poses of sheep husbandry. It has already been 
shown that sheep are he'Sthy. and produce as heavy, and may he made to 
produce as fine fleeces as elsewhere, in the tide-water zone. They are 
easily kept — finding, in a climate so mild, considerable succulent food even 
in the winter; and, south of North Carolina, large numbers wfTiild subsist 
during the entire winter on the hardier wild herbage which continues green 
in the forests and swamps. If this region was stocked with sheep, to the 
extent alone to which they could find subsistence, summer and winter, on 
wild herbage — or, in other words, get a living without costing their own- 
ers anything — the present number would be largely increased, and their 
wool and mutton would add materially to the annual income of the own- 
ers of the soil. But a better system would undoubtedly be not to depend 
upon wild herbage alone, but to have pastures or sheep-walks seeded with 
the best grasses which will flourish on them, and provision made for a quan- 
tity of dry fodder, or some substitute for it, for winter use. 

Can this summer and winter feed be produced, in the region under ex- 
amination, to any considerable extent, at an expense which would render 
its conversion into wool and mutton profitable % There are patches of 
good natural pasture in many parts of the tide-water zone, apart from the 
salt or fresh water marshes. But artificial pastures and meadows have 
rarely been attempted. The planters in this portion of South Carolina, for 
example, actually import hay ! " Many of the cotton and 7-ice planters . 
. . in some cases buy hay from New-England. . . . Northern and 
(in some cases) European hay is even earned up to supply Augusta and 
Columbia, along rivers which flow through swamps covered with natural 
grass, so rank and luxuriant as to be almost impenetrable."! 

This neglect of grass culture springs from several causes. Little farm- 
stock, comparatively speaking, is reared or kept by the rice and cotton- 
planters, from the fact that most of the labor on such plantations is per- 
formed by men ; and the few animals kept are fed on wild herbage, or the 
offal of crops which are raised for other purposes. The carriage and 
draught horses and mules are fed in the winter on the leaves or " blades" 
of corn ; and the neat stock get their living in the swamps, and in the 
corn fields, where the greatest portion of the stalks are usually left stand- 
ing- 

Nor is it to be denied that various unsuccessful experiments have been 
made in the cultivation of the grasses and clover, which have discouraged 
farther efforts, and led many to infer that the soil or climate, or both, are 
decidedly uncongenial to them. That the soil or climate is as favorable to 
the production of rich, thick swarded pastures or meadows, as in many 

* So termed by Werner. Though little used now by geolosists, I resort to it as the shortest descriptive 
epithet which will include all these rocks, unless it be the Hemilisyan of Brongniart, the Submedial of Co- 
nybeare, or the Gray wacke of De la Beche — neither of which is so familiar, nor, it appears to me, any bet- 
ter. The Transition rocks are equivalent to both the Cambrian of Prof. Sedgwick, and the Silurian of Mr 
Murchison — whose nomenclature is adopted by Lyell. Philliiis, Mantell, &c. 

t Dr. Morse, Mitchell, &c. | Ruffin's Agricultural Survey of South Carolina, 1843, p. 73 



32 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

parts of" the Northera States, I do not contend. Some of these soils are 
doubtless, naturally too baiTcn to be made to produce good yields of grass, 
without an expenditure which would more than counterbalance the profits 
accruing from them. Others have been sunk nearly to the same level by 
wasting and improvident tillage ; and it is on lands of the latter class, 
mainly, that the experiments iu introducing the grasses and clover have 
been made. As long as they would produce cotton or corn, these crops 
were annually taken from them, with perhaps an occasional year of rest 
(i. e. lying without any crop being sown on or taken from them) ; and, 
when reduced to such a degree of baiTonness that the crop fell short of re- 
paying the cost of producing it, clover or grass was resorted to in the vain 
hojie of suddenly repairing, through their instrumentality, the ravage and 
desolation of years. The following is from the report of a Committee of 
the Fishing Creek Agricultural Society, Chester District, South Carolina, 
made to the President of- the State Society in 1843 ; and, though this dis- 
trict is not in the tide-water zone, the system of crojiping desci-ibed is more 
or less the prevailing one* throughout much of the cotton growing region : 

" We generally plant cotton on fresh land four or five years in succession — then corn — 
then wheat or oats — again corn and cotton ; and, after it will produce little else, we sow it 
in rye, and let it rest two or three years. There are no fixed pnncii)les oljserved in the ro- 
tation ol' crops. . . . \Ve have no data whereby to fix the expense of cultivation accu- 
rately. We know this, however, that at the price of produce for the last two or three years, 
we are sinking money."! 

I ask what would be expected, in the way of grass or clover, from some 
of the best grazing lands of New- York, after being cropped with grain 
crops from ten to twelve years consecutively, with little or no manure ? — 
However carefully seeded with the best grasses, or with clover, they would 
not form meadows worth mowing, nor pastures where an acre would sum- 
mer a sheep — though, as now managed, an acre is poorly grassed that will 
not summer five or six sheep. Take the map of New-York, Sir, and draw 
a right line from Buffalo to a point a little south of Albany — say Coxsackie 
— and all tlie region, speaking in general terms, south of this line and west 
of the Catskill Mountains, is mainly devoted to grazing. It is the best 
graaing region of the State, and much of it is equal to any in the Northern 
States. Tlie best farmers in no part of it take off to exceed three grain or 
root cror)s before seeding down to grass ; and, unless the soil is unusually 
rich, it is ctistomary to give barn-yard manure to one of these crops. This 
is almost invariably the case where the land was in meadow when broken 
up. Where no manure is given on meadow lands, or even on lightish pas- 
ture lands, two grain crops are considered sufficient by the most provident 
farmers — it being an axiom among such, that all ordinary or thinnish soils 
should be nearly or quite as rich when seeded down as when Iwoken up. 
In other Avords, they draw from the soil only what is equivalent to the 
strength or fertilizing properties of the sod, and of the manure given. — 
When seeded down to grass, these lands are usually depastured by cattle 
or sheep several years before they are again broken up. If converted into 
meadow, they are top-dressed from time to time with gypsum, and some- 
times with stable manures.f The poorest soils, rocky hill-si-des, declivities 
much suliject- to washing and gullying, are rarely broken up after being 
once properly seeded down. I repeat it. Sir — take all the grazing lands 
of New-York, and crop them as severely as it is re]wrted above to be done 
in Chester District, South Carolina, and they would become so sterile that. 



* Td est. so far as constant rropping without returning anythinc: to the soil is concerned. 
t See Ruffin's Aqricultural Survoy"'of South Carolina, 1843— Appendix. ]). 6. 

\ It is not considorcd good economy, however, to top-dress any meadows with stahle manures which 
arc dry and arable, and can thus be subjected to the regular rotations of the farm. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 33 

unless resuscitated by copious applications of manure, they would not 
yield grass enough to pay the expv?nse of keeping them under fence, until 
they had lain waste for a quarter of a century. 

Another cause of the failures which have attended some of the efforts to 
introduce the culture of clover and the grasses on the tide-water zone, in 
the Southern States, may, and probably has, existed in the improper selec- 
tion of the varieties sown. As the first crop on a very meager soil — red 
clover, for example — is not appropriate in any region. In Flanders, the 
natural soils of much of which so closely resemble those of the zone under 
examination, it is not sown until the land is enriched and got in condition 
by several preparatory crops. The different grasses seem to be affected 
by various conditions in the soil or atmosphere, or both, which it is fre- 
quently difficult or impossible to detect. Timothy grass fPhleum pratense) 
is decidedly the favorite meadow grass of the grazing regions of New- 
York. White clover ( Trifollum rcpcns) invariably comes up spontane- 
ously on those lands. Red clover ( T. pratcnsc) is sometimes sown with 
Timothy in meadows, and generally in pastures. Red Top* ( Ag}-ostis 
(strictaj vvlgaris ) is preferred on wet lands, where it comes up spontane- 
ously. It is considered a prime pasture and meadow grass in such situa- 
tions. June or Spear grass ( Voa pratcnsis ) , the Blue grass of the South 
ern and Western States, so prized there and also in England,! is consid- 
ered an unprofitable intruder in our meadows, where it comes up sponta- 
neously, and ultimately drives out the Timothy. The meadows are then 
said to be " run out," and are broken up. I have never known the seed 
of this grass sown in a single instance ! The favorite Rye grasses of Eng- 
land (Lolium perenne var. hiennc), Lucern (Medicago sativa), Sainfoin 
( Hedysarnm onibricMs), Orchard grass ( Dactylis glomerata), and various 
others equally celebrated in England and on the Continent, have been 
tried in New- York, and the experiments are generally regarded as decided 
failures. None of them, at all events, have obtained a footing among the 
grasses sown by our best farmers. On the other hand, the Red Top of 
New-York is but little regarded in England,! and Timothy was not in 
much better repute until the Woburn experiments demonstrated its great 
value for hay. Even now it is considered inferior, in general value, to 
many other grasses. || All this goes to show that even the hardiest grasses 
have their favorite situations ; and that we are not authorized to pronounce 
against the practicability of forming pastures and meadows in a given re- 
gion, because we have failed in a trial with two or three grasses, out of a 
list of as many hundreds. 

It has already been remarked that there are patches of good natural 
pasture on the dry as well as the wet portions of the tide-water zone. 
These ai-e frequent and extensive, and could be rendered infinitely more 
so by simply clearing- the land. In your Memoir on the Cultivation of 
Rice, furnished to Mr. Ruffin, while making the Agricultural Survey of 
South Carolina, in 1843, you say : 

" At first, rice was cultivated on tliL high land, and on little spots of low ^ound, as they 
were met with here and there. These low grounds being found to agree better with the 
plant, the inland swamps were cleared for tlie purpose of extending the culture. In the 
process of time, as the fields became too grassy and stubborn, they wt^re abandoned for new 
clearings ; and so on, until at length was discovered the superior adaptation of the tide-lands, 
and the great facilities for irrigation atForded by their location. For these, the inland planta- 
tions were gradually and slowly abandoned, until now, that the gi-eat body of land, which 

* Sometimes known as " Upright Bent grass," and in the Southern States as Herds-grass, 
t Pronounced by Sole the best of all the grasses. 

X AgTOstis vulgaris is pronounced " a worthless or rather a mischievous plant," by Sir George Sinclair ! 
II "Our opinion," says Loudon, •' is that neither Timothy nor (some other grasses named; is ever likely 
to be cultivated in Britain." 

E 



34 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

little more than a centiiry ago furnished for exportation over 50,000 barrels of rice, now lies 
utterly waste, constituting, where ft-ees have uot overgi'own it, the finest natural pasture 
which could be desired."* 

Mr. Ruffin in his Report of the Survey, of the same year, asserts : 

" Few countries possess gi-eater natui-al facilities, or which are more iinprovable by in- 
dustry, for j)i()duciii;j in aliiuidance, gi'ass, hay and live-stock, and their products of meat, 
milk and butter, all of which ai'e now so deplorably deficient."t 

The Committee appointed by the State Agricultural Society of South 
Carolina to take into consideration the scheme of reducing the quantity 
of cotton grown,| in their Report observe : 

" Millions of acres in South Carolina, including the lower country, are admirably adapted 
to the raising of rich gi-asses. This might be added as another Ijranch of industry, from 
which reasonable profits could be realized, and might very well be added to the cotton 
planter's income." 

Corresponding statements, on equally indisputable authority, might be 
indelinitely multiplied, not only in relation to that portion of the tide- 
water zone lying within the limits of South Carolina, but in all the South- 
ern States. South Carolina occupying a central geographical and lati- 
tudinal position, in reference to this zone, and its soils on it, about 
averaging, so far as I can learn, with that of the other States, it is not 
necessary to pursue the inquiry. 

Where fine natural pastures spring up spontaneously on deserted lands, 
more or less impoverished — probably in most instances considerably so — 
how little difficulty would there be in forming, almost immediately, the 
best artificial pastures and meadows on millions of acres of just such land, 
(only that it is in its virgin state, and consequently far better,) now in un- 
productive forest ! And how small would be the amount of skill requisite 
to convert millions of acres more of cotton lands — which do not now yield 
remunerathsr crops — into pastures and meadows, which, as I shall show, 
would yield their owners a handsome remuneration ! 

And the culture of the grasses need not stop with these comparatively 
good and medium lands. They can be made to stretch their carpet of 
green over the poorest of ycmr sands — over those now covered with stunt- 
ed pines, or which, scorched and naked, reverberate back fiercely the 
burning heat of a southern sky. 

There are few regions in the tide-water zone possessing poorer soils 
than some cuU'nHitcd portions of New-York. In the vicinity of Albany, 
(between that city and Schenectady, for example,) the same loose, silicious 
sands, the same, though perhaps rather more stunted, growth of pines, 
would nlmost compel you to fancy yourself somewhere between Richmond 
and Wilmington, on the route of the great Southern Railroad ! Denuded 
of their meager covering of dwarf pines, and the cohesion produced by 
their interlacing roots, these sands would be lifted and driven about by 
the winds. Yet on such a soil as this, you find the farm of the late cele- 
Ijrated .Tesse Buel ! And fertile grass fields, dotted here and there with 
splendid mansions, are every year stretching out farther and farther nmong 
the arid sands. How are these rapid transformations in the fertility of 
the soil accomplished ? The stables, and mews, and cesspools of Albany 
can give the answer ! 

^ The following description of the natural soils of Flanders, now prover- 
bial for its fine crops and rich pastures and meadows, is from the pen of 
that able English agricultural writer. Rev. W. L. Rham : 



* AarirnltnrM Snrvny of South Carolina, 1P43. Appendix, p. 14. f lb. p 73. 

t The Committer! consisted of Whitemarsh 1!. Seabrook, Esq., John B. O'Neall, Esq., and W. J. Allston 
Esq.— and the Report w.is made, ! believe, in January, in 1846. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 35 

" The greater part of the land in Flanders is naturally poor ; and in extensive districts, 
which now have the appearance of the greatest richness at hai-vest time, the original soil was 
once little better than the blowing sands which are met with in the neighborhood of the sea. 
Neither is it a genial climate which brings forward the fruits of the eai-th in abundance ; for 
the climate is inferior to that of France or the southern parts of Germany. The soil may be 
divided into two classes. The first consists of the alluvial clay loams near the coast; the 
second, of various sands and light loams which are ibmid in the interior. The most fertile is 
that of the low lands wliich have been reclaimed fi-om the sea by embankments ; it is chiefly 
composed of a muddy deposit mixed with fragments of mai'iue shells and fine sea sand .... 
In tlje interior of East and West Flanders the soil varies considerably ; but the principal 
part is of a sandy nature. The sand, and a heavier loam wliich scarcely deserves tlie name 
of clay, are found much intermi.Ked, which is owing to an alternation of layers of sand and 
loam, which are found by digging to a considerable depth. These layers are not of gi-eat 
thickness, and the accidental circumstance of the washing away of the sand in some places 
and the depositions from rivers in others easily account for this variety. Some of the eleva- 
tions, which are nowhere considerable, consist of a very poor sand, and suggest the idea of 
their having once been the sands of the sea blown into hills, as is observable on the coast. 
These hills, if they may bo so called, are naturally so barren that they were, not veiy long since, 
covered with heath, or at best planted with fir trees ; but they have gradually been cidti- 
vated and improved, and only a few remain in their original state of lieath and wood. The 
poorer sands have been brought into cultivation chiefly by the persevering industry of small 
proprietors and occupiers." 

Have we not here a good general description of much of our southern 
Atlantic coast — the tide swamp and sandy plain — and even a graphically 
minute account of the " Sand Hill " region of South Carolina ] 

Instances of the reclamation of such lands might be indefinitely mul- 
tiplied. 

I do not offer the above facts to prove that it is either profitable or ex- 
pedient to reclaim all the sterile lands of the southern sea-board by the same 
means that have been resorted to about Albany, or in Flanders. Except 
in the vicinity of cities, where manures are plentiful and cheap, and un- 
common market facilities are offered, it would not be profitable, unless it 
can be accomplished by less expensive means. 

But it proves one and an important position : that it is the sterility of 
such soils — or perhaps their loose and "blowing" character in some places, 
their sun-baked hardness in others — which prevents them from spontane- 
ously producing esculent herbage ; and nothing in them, as has been 
frequently fancied, positively deleterious to vegetation. And it follov/s, 
hence, that whenever it \% frnfjahle to convert them into grass lands, it is 
practicable so to do by the proper application of raantires. But do I hear 
some of your South Carolina neighbors, of the anti-improvement school, 
(if you have any such,) say, " If our soils are, or can be made, generally, 
suitable for the production of the grasses, our climate cannot % " This 
position is obviously incorrect, as warmer climates, as, for example, Aus- 
tralia, the Cape of Grood Hope, and various others, produce, where the 
soils are favorable, a luxuriant growth of grasses; and South Carolina 
herself, as has been already shown, produces them bountifully in situations 
where neither the latitude nor the elevation abates one jot of the heat of 
your fervid climate. 

It is not impossible that the climate of the States farthest south — south, 
say, of North Carolina — may be unfavorable to certain grasses and clovers ; 
and perhaps so to the favorite ones of the Northern States. In relation 
to red clover, however, the acclimation of which is regarded by many as 
so important to those States, it seems Mr. Rufiin thought otherwise. He 
says : 

" Perennial, or other permanent grasses, of which, doubtless, there may be found some 
peculiarly suited to the warm climate, (South Carolina,) would still more sei-ve to give the 
great benefits of changed condition to the fields, independent of the much needed benefits 
of grass husbandly for feeding of live-stock and givmg rest and manure to the land. The 
grasses whose value has been fidly established by long experience in more northern coun- 



36 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



tries, slionlJ be tried — not because they are from the North, (which in itself is a strong ob- 
jection,) but merely because their good qualities are known, and possibly some such gi-asses 
may as well suit a more southern dime. And such, I tiiist, is led clover, the best of all 
green and manuring crops. For although this was long held to belong to the North only, I 
have fully experienced that it.? locality and the perfection of its giowth are fixed much more 
by j>ecullarity of soil, than hy latitude. Not more than twenty years ago it was as general 
a behef in Lower Virginia, as now in South Carolina, that there the soil was too scanty and 
the sun too hot to raise red clover. But since marling and hming have made many of these 
soils calcareous, it is found that neither the sandy soil nor hot and dry climate forbitl the 
raising excellent and profitable crops of clover. And so hereafter it will be found m South 
Carolina."* 

In a Report by a Committee of the Milton Agiicultural Society, (em- 
bracing adjacent parts of Laurens and Newbeny Districts, S. C.) made to 
the State Saciety in 1843, they state : 

" Our native gi'asses, except the cral) gi-ass, are of the poorest kitid, principally sedge. Of 
the artificial gi-asses, some bials have been made with red clover and herds-grass. t On rich 
lots the first apjiears to succeed veiy well. For alternating with tillage crops we do not 
know of its having been tried ; but our impression is, that without maiuu-ing more highly 
than is customary here, it will not answer. We are not aware that it has ever been sowed 
writh gypsum. The herds-giass, as far as it has been tried, appears to succeed veiy well on 
the bottoms that border our bi'auches and creeks. "+ 

Lawrence and Newbeny are not in the tide-water region, but so far as 
the effect of chmate alone is concerned, their testimony has an equal 
bearing. 

I have Uttle doubt that red clover may be cultivated on good, rich soils 
even in the States south of North Carolina, and may possibly become, un- 
der some circumstances, a profitable crop in their rotations ; but, as has 
been already remarked, it will not do as njirsi crop on very meager soils, 
in any climate — and still less so, I apprehend, on such soils south of lati- 
tude 34'^. It is not, therefore, the crop which you need, to cheaply ame- 
liorate your poor and exhausted soils, to fit them either for grazing or for 
tillage. Grant that such soils can be fitted to produce it, as Mr. Rufllin 
suggests, by the application of lime or marl,|| these manures Avill be found 
expensive, can be but slowly obtained in quantities sufficient to apply to 
large tracts, and, besides, when the soil is sufficiently ameliorated to carry 
clover, it will carry most if not all of your ordinary tillage crops. Though 
clover would aid materially in the rotation, in sustaining or even improv- 
ing the fertility superinduced by lime or any other fertilizer, it is not, and 
cannot be made the original fertilizer on the sterile sands of warm climates. 
When we talk, therefore, of the initiatory steps by which such soils shall 
be brought from a state of barrenness to a state of production, clover does 
not come within the category of appropriate agents. 

Though red clover ranks in the first class, if not the first in that class, 
on appropriate soils, as a grazing and manuring crop, I have never regard- 
ed it as indispensable — as what the lawi/ers would style a sine qua non — ■ 
even in sustaining fertility anywhere except on rich calcareous wheat 
lands, where a severe and exhausting rotation is resorted to. Where 
wheat is taken from the soil at hast every alternate year, for ten, fifteen, 
or twenty years, without any manure, excepting the intervening crop, and 
the droppings of animals depastured on it, clover will hetfer sustain the 
land in the ultimately fatal struggle, than perhaps any other green ma- 

* Ruffin'8 Aaricultural Survey of S. C, li^4:^, p. 81. 

t This should be the Agrostis stricta or vulg aris—t\ie Red Top of the North. Some writers desif^iate U 
as the one species, some as the other. ^ 

X RufRn's Agricultural Survey of S. C, 1843 ; Appendix, p. 9. 

II Unless, however, the soil contains more orgavic, matter than I suppose to be the case with many of 
your sandy soils, theory and practice both show that lime will not i)rove the proper manure. Thonsh bk- 
ccodinely valuable in its place, experience shows that it is no agricultural jpawocta. I shall allude to this sul). 
ject more fully in a subsequent letter. 



I 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 37 

nuring crop. But on the silicious grazing soils of Southern New-York, it 
is rarely used exclusively as a manuring crop, and is but little used, ex- 
cepting slightly admixed with timothy, for pasture or meadows.* I think 
it should be used more ; but the fact stated shows that clover is not re- 
garded by practical men, who are perfectly familiar with it, as that indis- 
pensable crop, in all situations, which some of its more extravagant pane- 
gyrists would lead us to suppose. The conclusions which I would have 
you deduce from the above facts and statements are, simply, that if clover 
is found to flourish with you without extra ti'ouble and expense, you will 
do well to make use of it in your rotation ; if not, it is chimerical, in my 
judgment, to engage in an expensive struggle with natural disadvantages 
to force its cultivation. 

The herds-grass (red top) spoken of by the Milton Society, is a good 
gi-ass on moist (but not boggy) soils, and having been found to succeed 
with you, is worthy of trial in such situations, but on dry soils, especially 
on arid sands, it would entirely fail. Nor have I much confidence in 
either timothy or spear (blue) grass, in such situations, in your latitude — 
none at all in the former. 

It would be well, probably, to try limited experiments with all grasses, 
domestic and foreign, which have succeeded well on soils similar to your 
own ; as among these, some may be found which disregard climate, or are 
even better fitted to your climate than their indigenous one, as was the 
case with timothy at the North. The same remark is also true in rela- 
tion to certain other esculents which are used as substitutes for the grasses, 
and for green manuring crops. 

Notwithstanding the evident propriety of such experiments, I am 
strongly inclined to the opinion that it is to your own native grasses and 
esculents, or those of some kindi^ed climate, you must look mainly for the 
basis of your grazing husbandry — and through this, the amelioration of 
your poor and exhausted soils. 

I regret that I can find no list of those native grasses which sward over 
the deserted lands of the tide- water zone, and flourish with a tropical lux- 
uriance in its swamps. You allude to them as ' native " grasses, so does 
Mr. RuflSn. Mr. Seabrook, in his Report on Cotton Culture,^ speaks of 
" crop grass," by which I suppose he means Crab grass, (Panicum san- 
guinale,) coming up spontaneously after spring-sown peas ; but farther 
than this, neither of you specify varieties.il Among these indigenous ones, 
particularly those which spontaneously make their appearance on dry 
lands, it would be exceedingly singular if there are not several very valua- 
ble grasses for your soils and climate — grasses the seeds of which should 
form a part, if not suitable for the whole sowing, on the same kinds of 
soils on which they are found flourishing. 

Crab grass grows in all parts of the southern States, and is a fair, though 
not a very superior pasture and meadow grass. 

Golden millet (Panicum milliaceum) is a great producer and withstands 



I know of but very few farmers excepting myself, in this, (Cortland,) one of the best of the grazing 
counties, who sow unmixed clover seed. I confess myself decidedly partial to the crop. You may ride 
ten miles or more in many directions from my house, where half and frequently more than three-fourtha 
of the fields ai-e in pasture or meadow, without observing five acres of unmixed clover. 

X For this elaborate and exceedingly able Report or Memoir, see Farmers' Library, 1845, October, No- 
vember and December Nos. 

II Since writing the above, I have received from a South Carolina con-espondent the following list of 
grasses and other esculents which flourish in the lower part of that State. Crab grass (Digitarh. sangui- 
nalis). earlier— the " Crowfoot" (EUusine hidica), a little later, are, he says, the best grasses for hay, and 
thrive in cultivated erounds from the month of June till frost. The "Wild Okra" (Viola palmata), the 
"Partridge Berry" (Mitcfiella repens), the Wild Pea Vine, and several other esculents, obscure and MOr 
known by name, flourish in most natural pastures from early spring till November. 



38 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

a warm climate, but it requires a good soil. It has been cultivated with 
great success by Mr. Affleck in (Adams county) Mississippi. 

Bermuda grass* ( Cj/noclon (Jacti/lon) I have been led to consider, from 
the representations of Mr. Affleck, as the best grass, both for pastui e and 
xneadow, on the sterile sands of the tide-water zone. If half this enthu- 
siastic admirer believes of it is true, it is of inestimable value to the South, 
and lox jicrvianent pastures and meadows, is by far the best grass in the 
United States. Mr. A. says : 

" We are i'uUy aware of all the olijectious made to the spreading of tins grass, and have 
a prac;tical knowledge of all the trouble it occasions ; and having also had several years' ex- 
perience of its great, its incalculable value, we have no hesitation in stating that the latter is 
manifold greater than the Ihrnier. The time is not iiir distant when all the rough feed cDn- 
Buuied on plantations will Ije made from this grass ; and when the planter will consider his 

hay crop as of much more importance than his sugar or cotton The excellence of this 

plant for pastirrage is evinced by two circumstances. It is preferred by stock of every de- 
scription to all odier grass, and it grows luxuriantly in every kind of soil. It possesses an 
additional advantage, that of binding the loosest and most barren sandy tracts. But when it 
has once tiiken possession of close, rich soil, its extirpation is so difficult as almost to defy all 
the skill, industry and perseverance of farmers. It is used to bind the levees on the barJvs 
of the Mississippi, and of railroads. We saw it at Macon, Geo., Charleston, S. C, and so 
on, as far north as City Point, Virginia, where it partially covers the wharf. One hundred 
pounds of grass aflbrd upward of fifty of dry hay ; and we do cut. as a regular crop, five 
tons of hay per acre each season. Were we to state how much more has been cut, we might 
strain the belief of our readers. No other grass will yiekl such an amount of valuable hay ; 
surpass it in nutritive qualities; support on an acre of pasture such a quantity of stock; will 
improve the soil mi)re ipiickly ; or so effectually stop and fill up a wash or gully. But, on 
the other hand, its extirpation, when once well established, is almost impossible ; though to 
check and weaken it, so far as to grow a grain or cotton crop, is easy enough. To do this, 
pursue theccnirse of the best fanners of Kentucky in their management of a blue-grass sod — 
with a good breaking plow, having a wheel and coulter, and a stout team, turn over evenly 
and nicely a sod four inches thick and as wide as the plow and team are capable of, follovtr 
in the same furrow with another plow which casts the dirt well, and throw out as much of 
the fresh eartli on top of the sod as possible or the depth of the soil will admit of. The crop 
that follows can easily be tended wilhout distiirbing the sod, and its gradual decay will 
greatly increase whatever crojD may be planted on it — and that should be a shading one, 
com and peas or pumpkins, -or whiter oats followed by peas. Good farmers will understand 
that heavy crops of hay cannot be removed, lor many successive years, from any land, with- 
out some return in the sliape of manure. To the careful, judicious farmer, who wishes to 
improve his laud and his stock, and who does not expect to grow any crop without trouble, 
and who uses good plows, and keeps a stout team and that in prime order, we eaniesdy 
recommend to try an acre or two of this grass, in a situation where it cannot readily spread. 
To the careless farmer we say, touch it not."t 

The same gentleman writes me under date of Dec. 10th, 1846 : 

" Bennuda grass well set, which affords the finest and most nuti-itious pastui'age I have 
ever seen, will keep almost any number of sheep to the acre — three or four times as many 
as the best blue-grass ! " 

Unless this is gross and willful exaggeration.t here you have a gi'ass 
which is not only highly palatable and nutritive, but which will yield 
more thnu double both of pasturage and hay, than the best grass or clover 
of the Northern States ! 1| It has been tried as far south as New-Orleans, 
and the climate found no detriment to it. It will flourish on dry and al- 
most barren sands. § What can the farmer on the dry lands of the tide- 
water zone ask more 1 [ts inextirpable character I regard as decidedly in 

* Cumberland Grass — Wiie grass of Virjinia — Croepins; Panic grass. 

t Suo Norman's ^^outllcrIl Ayiicultural Almanac, lor 1847. 

% Ni'ilhur of which are wo ubrmiued to suspect, from the well-known character and intelli"ence of Mr. 
Amcck. 

II People here in the North sometimes talk of getting three tons of timothy and four tons of clover (at 
two cuttings) per acre, but it is not done on one acre in ten thousand, on the best meadows I Two tons is 
a good, and by far above a medium yield, of timothy, and three, of clover. The large amounts of Ber- 
muda sometimes cut, which Mr. A. does not mention for fenr of " straining the belief'of his readers," ha 
has stated to me personally, to be eiglit tons ! .'—equivalent to the yield of three tirst-rate acres of tunolhy 
on the bes-t grazing lands of Southern Ncvv-Yorlc. 

§ Mr. Affleck informs me he has repeatedly seen it growing W3ll in such situations. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 39 

its favor on millions and millions on the thinner and poorer soils of that 
2one — as once admitted, it will put an end to the unprofitable tillage 
practiced on them, and remove all temptation to resort to it on others, as 
they are gi-adually rescued from barrenness. It will thus compel the 
adoption of that pastoral system which can alone make these lands prof- 
itable, or save them, if the forebodings of those who have been reared on 
them and are deeply attached to them, can be credited, from ultimate de- 
sertion.* 

You have another fodder crop — and which may be made a green ma- 
nuring one, in no respect inferior to clover. The pea is to the South what 
clover is to the North.T There is something in your soil or climate, or 
both, which seems to be specifically adapted to the development of this 
plant — for it flourishes with you imder a much greater variety of soils and 
circumstances than at the North. A leguminous plant, like clover, it draws 
much of its aliment from the atmosphere ; and it is perhaps as sensibly 
aftected by the same cheap manure, plaster. Its haulm or straw, if cut and 
cured greenish, and well taken care of, makes a good, rich fodder relished 
by all kinds of stock. Peas are greedily eaten by neat stock, swine, and 
sheep, for which they form a healthy and highly nutritious food. The 
white field pea of the North is considered equivalent to our corn,| by 
measure, in fattening swine. For sheep, and particularly for breeding 
ewes, there is probably no feed in the world equal to nicely ctired pea 
haulm, II with a portion of the seed left unthreshed.§ It gives them condi- 
tion and vigor — and prepares them to yield a bountiful supply of rich milk 
to their young. 

Though the pea is an annual, it becomes in eflect a perennial. South, 
when it is desired, by suffering it to stand until some of tlie grain shells 
out.^ It will mature in a southern climate, sown late in the summer, so 
that one, and even two precediug crops of it migiit fir.st be plowed in as a 
manure. It will ripen among Indian corn, sown after that plant has ceased 
to grow, and there have been successful experiments of sowing it late with 
wheat, oats, «&c., to have it obtain its growth (to be plowed under as ma- 
nure) after those crops have been harvested. 

Sprengel gives the following analysis of the pea. 1,000 parts in the 
common dry state yield— 



Potash and soda 

Lime and magnesia . 

Phosphoric acid 


Seed. 

15-50 

1-95 

1-90 


Straw. 

2-35 
30-70 

2-40 


Sulphuric acid 

Chlorine 


Setd. 

0-52 

-38 


Straw. 
3-35 
0-00 

10-85 


Silica, iron, &c 


4-40 



* Statements of this kind have been repeatedly made in the pages of the Monthly Fanner by southern 
gentlemen. 

f I had labored under the impression that the so-called pea — cultivated as a manurina; crop in the Soufh- 
ei-n States, was in reality a variety of the bean ; but Mr. Ruffin in his Agricultural Survey of South Caro- 
lina, (see Report of 1843, p 81.') and Hon. W. B. Seabrooh in his Memoir on Cotion Culture, (see Monthly 
Journal of Ain'iculture, Dec, 1845, p. 287.) speaks of this crop — the former again and again— as jiens, with- 
out the qualification which would be expected from gentlemen of so much learning, in case they were 
speaking of a plant by a vulgar misnomer, instead of its real name. The peculiar value of the crop at the 
South in the particulars described, I tiud asserted by Mr. Ruffin, Mr. Affleck, and various other writers and 
Agricultural Societies, m the strongest ti mis, and therefore it makes little difference, practically, whether 
the name is correct or not , but if not, the following analyses, &c., are misplaced. The bean resembles 
the pea in its qualities and value, but is rather inferior to it. 

J The small, hard cora of the North contains more nutriment per bushel than the large southern com. 

II That is, cut and cured so that it will come out of the stock or mow bright, and with the leaves looking 
green — instead of having the ferruginous hue of over-ripe clover. 

§ If cut greenish and well cured, tlie greener pods vi-ill not thresh out readily, and then they are in ex- 
actly the proper condition for breeding-ewes. If the crop is very hght, cut it when all the puds are quite 
green, and feed it out without threshing. 

IT This is, however, poor economy in any case. If the objec is peas, it is wasteful to the crop, and the 
quantity sown is uncertain ; besides, the haulm is ruined for fodder. If the object is manure, the loss is 
still greater. Plants in drying lose the nitrogen contained in their sap, give up their saline matters, and are 
"resolved more or less completely into carbonic acid, which escapes into the air, and is so far lost." — See 
Liebig on this subject, and also the clear and able remarks of Johnston, (Johnston's Agricultural Chemistiy, 
vol. ii. p. 176, ct supra.) 



40 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



The following- table of the comparative value of manures, deduced from 
analyses made by Payen and Boussingault, will show the remarkable com- 
parative value of the pea as a manuring crop, and it will be found other- 
wise useful for reference : 

TABLE No. i. 



Kinds of Manure. 



Farm yard duiitj. — 

Daiit( water 

Wheat straw 

Rye straw 

Oat straw — 

Barley straw 

Wheat chatr. 

Pea straw 

Millet straw 

Buckwheat straw 

Dried potato tops .. . 
With'd I'ves of beetroot 
Do. of potatoes .... 

Do. of carrots 

Do. of heather 

Do. of oak 

Do. of poplar 

Do. of beech 

Clover roots 

Burned sea-weed 

Oyster shells 

Sea shells 

Sea side marl 

.Solid cow-dung 

Urine of cows , 

Solid horse-dung 

Hor.se urine 

Pig dung , 

Sheep dung , 

Pigeon dung 

Guano 

Do , 

Fresh hones 

Feathers 

Woolen rags 

Horn shavings 

Coal soot 

Wood soot 

Picardv ashes 



Nitrogen in i 
100 of matter. 



Quality 
according to 

state. 



Dry. Wet. I Dry. Wet. 



1-95 
1-54 

o-:io 

0-20 

o-;i6 
o-2(; 

0-94 
1-9.5 
0-96 
0-.54 
0-43 
4-. 50 
2-30 
2-94 
1-90 
1-57 
1-17 
1-91 
1-77 
0-40 
0-40 
0-0.'". 
0-5e 
2-:!0 
,3-80 
2-21 

12-50 
3-37 
2-99 
9-02 
6-20 

15-73 



0-41 
0-OG 
0-24 
0-i7 
0-28 
0-23 
0-85 
1-79 
0-78 
0-48 
0-37 
0-.50 
0-55 
0-8.5 
1-74 
1-18 
0-54 
1-18 
1-Hl 
0-38 
0-32 
0-05 
0-51 
0-32 
0-44 
0-55 
2-61 

1-11 

8-30 

5-00 

13-95 

5-31 

17-61115-54 

■20-26ll7-98 

15-78il4-3H 

1-59 1-35 

1-31 1-15 

0-71 1 0-65 



100 

72 

15 

10 

18 

13 

48 

100 

49 

27 

22 

230 

117 

1.50 

97 

80 

66 

78 

90 

20 

20 

3 

26 

117 

1941 

113 

641 

172 

1.53 

462 

323 

807 

903 
1039 

809 
81 
67 
36 



100 
2 

60 

42- 

70 

57-5 
212-5 
447-5 
195 
120 

92 
125 
137-5 
212-5 
425 
293 
134 
294 
402-5 

93 

80 

13 
123 

80 

no 

137-5 

6.5 

1.57-5 

277 
2075 
1247 
3487 
1326 
3835 
4495 
3590 

337 

287-5 

162 



Equivalent 

according 

to state. 



Dry. 



100 

127 

6.50 

975 

.542 

750 

207 

100 

203 

3G1 

453 

43 

85 

66 

103 

125 

167 

102 

110 

488 

488 ■ 

37.50 

377 

84 

51 

88 

151 

58 

65 

21 1 

31J 

lOJ 

n 

9i 

122 

149 



Wet 



Remarks. 



Average of Bechelbronu. 
Washed by the rain. 
Fresh of Alsace, 1838. 
Of Alsace. 

do. 

do. 

do. 

do. 

do. 

do. 

Of mangel wurzel. 
Withered lop and leaves. 

Dried in the air. 
Leaves fallen in autumn. 

do. 

do. 
Dried in the air. 



Dried sea-shells of Dunkirk 



The horse drank but little, the 
[urine was thick. 

Of Bechelbronn. 
Imp. into Eng. in its ord. state. 
Imp. into France, do. 
As sold by the melters. 



It will be seen that pea straw is worth, as a manure, from 5 to 9 times 
as much as the straws of the small grains — is better than clover roots, and 
actually equals farm-yard dung ! 

Rye, oats and barley send up a good growth of straw, in many parts 
of this zone, even where the product of grain is small ; and, sown in the 
fall, they afford sweet green pasturage, during the entii'e winter, in the 
more southern latitudes. This is a very important and a very favorable 
consideration in an economical sy.stem of sheep husbandry. All winter 
green feed (roots) in the Northern States must be cultivated, harvested, 
protected from the frosts of winter in cellars, and daily fed out — which ne- 
cessarily renders it expensive. Where winter field crops can be depas- 
tured on the ground, it saves the greatest proportion of this expense ; and, 
though winter green feed is not indispensable to sheep, it promotes their 
health, early maturity, and is especially valuable to breeding-ewes. All 
the crops above named, too, can be profitably made use of as gi-een 
manure. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 41 

Blades of corn, well cured, are relished by sheep, and they thrive on 
them.* 

The sweet potato is also readily eaten by them, and it fattens them per- 
haps as rapidly as any other root cro|5. Although it might be regarded as 
too valuable for sheep feed, in regions where the whole force is given to 
the culture of cotton, there are others where, I cannot but believe, it might 
be occasionally if not regularly resorted to with profit, unless rye, oats, 
barley, &c. can be provided so much more cheaply that it is no object so 
to do. It is so cheaply planted by slips, and tilled with so little trouble, 
and it so admirably prepares land for subsequent crops,t that, on rich and 
otherwise favorable soils, my imj^ression is strong it is, at all events, as 
cheap a winter feed for stock in the South as the Irish potato is in the 
North. Its average yield is about two-thirds that of the latter. The Irish 
potato is universally regarded as one of the cheapest feeds that can be 
given to all kinds of stock, to which it is adapted in the North. It is true 
that it is not fed so much as it would otherwise be, with us, in the winter, 
by reason of the cold. It is difficult to protect this root from freezing, and. 
at the same time leave it accessible for daily feeding, without putting it in 
dwelling-house cellars, which axe usually at some distance from the feed- 
ing barns and yards ; and besides, the conversion of this citadel of a north- 
ern matron's culinary stores, into a great, dirty root pit, would be a most 
grievous infringement on all the canons of good housewifery ! 

The foregoing facts show that the Southern States have already all that 
is necessary to feed stock and fertilize their fields. Their pea, take it all 
in all, is a full equivalent for the clover of the North.:|: By means of it — 
of Bermuda and some other grasses — aided by the droppings of sheep, and 
other cheap and convenient manures, a large proportion of the tide-water 
aone, now so unproductive, can be converted into grazing lands, which will 
yield as good a per centage on present capital and investment as the best 
cotton uplands, and produce wool at a less expense per found tlian any re- 
gion of the United States north of the Potomac. 



* A friend of mine wintered a few Merino sheep on not only tbe blades, but the stalks, of our northern 
corn, chopping the whole up together, and adding a little bran or shorts. He found it cheap feed, and the 
eheep got fat enough to slaughter before spring. 

t After the crop is harvested, swine are turned in, and they root the ground over so deeply and thor- 
oughly that it is in a better state of tillage than could be produced by mere spring plowing. 

I Mr. Ruffin, the srcat advocate for clover, admits thnt in the South it is not fitted to precede Indian com, 
on account of the destnjctive cut worms it harbors, unless the land he plowed " early in winter," or other 

Precautionary steps are taken. The pea is not liable to this objection. See Ruffin's Ag. Survey of S. C, 
843, p. 78. 



42 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER IV. 

THE ADAPTATION OF THE SOILS, HERBAGE, &c. OP THE SOUTHERN" 
STATES TO SHEEP HUSBANDRY, CONTINUED. 2. OF THE MIDDLE OR 
HILLY ZONE. 3. OF THE MOUNTAIN REGION. 



Climate, Soils, and Productions of the Middle or Hilly Zone — Its evident. Adaptation to Sheep Husbandry 
...'I'he Mountain Region.. .Altitudes ofdift'erent Raiifjesand Peaks — Their general Shape — Freedom ft-om 
Rocks. Precipices, &(:... Table Lands— Their Geological Formations — Products. . .Mi-. CHngman's Letter 
describing the Kuan and other Mountains in North Carolina. . .Mr. Buckley's Counter Statements.. -Mr. 
Karie's Description of the Mountains in Henderson and Rutherford Counties, Nonh Carolina. . .Col. Cols- 
ton's Statements in relation to the Mountains in Berkley County, Virginia... Hon. A. Stevenson's in rela- 
tion to the Blue Ridge, and the Mountains in the South-west of Virginia — Hon. W. L. Goggin's in relation 
to the same. . .Judge Beatly's Account of Sheep Husbandry on the Cumberland Mountains— Mr. Kramer's 
...Mr. Buckley's Views in relation to the North Carolina Mountains examined and objected to. ..Climate 
of the Koan and othei-s compared with that of the Grazing Lands of New- York. . .Statistics showing the 
Forwardness of the .Seasons and the Temperature in New-Yoik...Efl'ect of Elevation on Temperatiu'e • -. 
On Vegetable Productions. 

Dear Sir : The middle or liilly zone is liigli, dry, healthy, and has a 
mild and, compared with the North, equahle climate.* Its soils possess 
the ino^redients due to its formation — disintegrated granite — and are far 
more fertile than those of the lower zone. Somefimes on the summits of 
the hills they are poor and thin, and there are occasionally extensive ranges 
of poor land, as in Virginia ; but as a general thing, they vary from fair to 
good ; and on the bottom lands of some of the rivers and larger creeks, 
they possess remarkable fertility. The valleys, however, are generally 
narrow, and are everywhere the bed of streams, which abundantly water 
this whole region, and furnish inexhaustible facilities for mills and manu- 
factories. The slight cohesion of the soil, aided by the face of the country 
and the system of tillage pursued in many parts of it,t render it peculiarly 
subject to washing by heavy rains. The hill-sides are frequently cut into 
deep gullies, rendering aration difficult,^ and the surface soil is washed 
into the valleys and into the beds of the creeks, not only impoverishing the 
high lands, but, by impeding the courses of the streams, in some regions 
converting those of the valleys into unhealthy marshes.|] 

Grasses suited to the climate flourish whe?i soion, and on lands not ut- 
terly worn out, throughout all this region ; and there is little doubt that 
every variety which could be acclimated on the sands of the loAver zone, 
could be more readily acclimated here — and probably various others. The 
pea succeeds in nearly every situation ; oats also form a valuable ma- 
nuring crop in some parts ; while on many of the alluvial bottoms, such, 
for example, as the Blackjack lands of South Carolina — rye grows luxuri- 
antly, answering a valuable pui'pose either for grain, manure, or for winter 

* The range of the thermometer is sometimes 6(P to 75° in a single month (March or April) in New- 
York ! 

t That is, a constant sucee.ssion of clean tillage crops, such as cotton, com, and tobacco. 

J The Fishinj' Creek Agricultural Society, in their Report before quoted from, say : "The only really 
waste land we have is our old fields, many of which are so washed and gullied as to be absolutely irre- 
claimable." Mr. Ruffin says that "the destruction both of soil and of fertility has been enormous " from 
this cause. 

II " The country was, nt first, as its features indicated, nearly free from malaria and all its noxious effects. 
But as soon as the incessant and injudicious use of the plow caused the soil to be washed from the hilly 
grounds into the bottoms, the before unobstriK'ted clean bordered channels of all the small streams were 
filled and clogged with earth, and vegetable rubbish, and finer matter, and the adjacent low lands were 
thereby rendered swampy. The washing of the high land earth hitothe valleys so altered the original sur- 
face level as to kill the trees ; and their decay, and. later, the obstructions by their fallen trunks, increased the 

general evil I infer " that these causes " have mainly served to nourish malaria aud increase the 

malignity of disease." [Ruffin's Ag. Survey of S. C, 1843, p. y6.J 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 43 

feed for stock. In this last particular, it would be, as I have before said, 
an important auxiliary in sheep husbandry. 

The adaptation of most of this region to sheep husbandry is too obvious 
to require extended comment ; and it becomes, therefore, simply a ques- 
tion of profit and loss, whether it is expedient to introduce it.* Let us turn 
therefore, to the adaptation of the mountain region to this branch of industry 

The altitude of the southern mountains, with a few exceptions, is not 
very considerable. The loftiest, the Black and the Roan, in North Caro- 
lina, are respectively 6,476 and 6,038 feet in hight. The Peaks of Otter, 
the highest, and summits of the Blue Ridge in Virginia, are 4,250, and the 
highest Alleganies 2,500 feet high. Table Mountain in South Carolina 
is about 4,000, and the terminal masses of the Blue Ridge in Georgia are 
about l,500.t The hight of the Cumberland Mountains, the most western 
chain, I nowhere find stated, but they are not reputed as high as some of 
the preceding. It will be seen, therefore, that none of the southern moun- 
tains rise above the range of the grasses. They are usually broad at the 
base, easy of ascent, and rounded or flattened on their summits, instead 
of rising from naiTow bases into steep pyramidal forms with conical peaks ; 
and from their geological formations and their shape (resulting probably 
from that formation,) they are uncommonly free from exposed rocks, preci- 
pices and abrupt acclivities. With the exception, perhaps, of the Cum- 
berland chain, large, exposed rocks abound far less, on most of these 
mountains than in many parts of New-England, or even the Old Red Sand- 
stone region of Pennsylvania, which are not only pastured, but plowed ! 
Indeed, a side-hill plow, drawn by oxen, could be used on very many of 
the southern mountains, if cleared, to their very summits ; and this is true, 
singular as it may appear, of some of the loftiest of them.| The Cumber- 
land Mountains are spoken of by Doct. Morse, as " stupendous piles of 
craggy rocks," and in these statements he has been followed by more re- 
cent geographers. But if this description applies to some portions of the 
chain, it certainly does not to others, as I shall have occasion to show. 

On the sides, and sometimes on the summits of the mountains in differ- 
ent parts of this whole region, extensive plains or table lands, already 
pretty well covered with wild and domestic grasses and nutritious escu- 
lents, not unfrequently occur. Esculents suitable for sheep are to be 
found in greater or less quantities on nearly all of them. 

West of the summit of the Blue Ridge, the geological formations, as 
has before been stated, belong to the Transition period — a rather unusual 
circumstance in mountain ranges, and undoubtedly more indicative of 
fertility in the superincumbent soils than the ordinary Primary formation. |t 
Indeed, they are the same with those of the best grazing lands of South- 
ern New-York, and subtracting climatic and other§ effects of elevation, 
they should possess a general correspondence in their properties and pro- 
ducts, with the latter.^ 

* This question will be fully discussed in a subsequent letter. 

t For these altitudes, I am indebted to Professor Mitchell. 

t For exam])le, the Roan. 

II It is true that soils formed from Primaiy rocks, when sufficiently fertile to sustain herbag:e of any kind, 
are peculiarly adapted to the production of sweet grasses ; but mountains of this formation are usually 
steeper, from the slower decomposition of granite, gneiss, and other Primary rocks, and their steepness ex- 
poses them to increased abrasion, or washing. Hence their soils frequently but thinly cover the rocks, 
and are of a meacer and lixiviated character. 

§ To wit. abrasion and denudation by rains. And, moreover, the " noithera drift " of New- York has added 
a little lime to the soils formed Irom these rocks, and thus supplied, measurably, a want existing in all of 
them for most tillage crops. 

tr For example, the '• Slate Hills," which rise on the west of Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Fred- 
erick and some other counties in Virginia, are composed of the same rocks (Hamilton trrotip, ineludina; 
Genesee slate of the New- York system,) which underlie some of the best soils in New-York ; and much 
of the land between these hills and the Alleganies rests on the same rocks, (Chemimg,) which underlio 
the southern grazing region of New-Y'ork. 



44 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



In ascertaining the particular products of these mountains, their chmate, 
and general adaptation to sheep husbandry, I will first call your attention 
to the often quoted letter from Hon. T. L. Clingman, of North Carolina, 
to John S. Skinner, Esq., in 1844. Mr. Clingman says : 

" You state that you have directed some attention to the Sheep Husbandry of the United 
Stat&s, in the course of which it has occun-ed to you that the people of the mountain regions 
of North Carolina, and some of the other Southern States, have not availed themselves suffi- 
ciently of their natural advantages for the production of sheep. Being myself w^ell acquaint- 
ed with the western section of North Carolina, I may perhaps be able to give you most of 
the information you desire. As you have directed several of your inquiries to the county 
of Yancey, (I presume from the fact, well knowni to you, that it contains the highest moun- 
tains in <uiy of the United States,) I will, in the first place, turn my attention to that county. 
First, as to its elevation. Dr. Mitchell, of our University, ascertained that the bed of Tow 
Kiver, the largest stream in the county, and at a ford near its center, was about 2,200 feet 
above the level of the ocean. Burnsville, the seat of the court-house, he found to be be- 
tween 2,800 and 2,900 feet above it. The general level of the countiy is, of com'se, much 
above this elevation. In fact, a number of the mountain summits rise above the hight of 
6,000 feet. The climate is delightfully cool duiiig the summer; in fact there are very few 
places in the county where the thennometer rises above 80° on the hottest day. An intel- 
ligent gentleman who passed the summer in the northern part of the county (rather the 
more elevated portion of it) infonned me that the thermometer did not rise on the hottest 
da "s above 76°. 

' You ask, in the next place, if the surface of the ground is so mucli covered with rocks aa 
to render it unfit for pasture ? The reverse is the fact; no portion of the county that I have 
passed over is too rocky for cultivation ; and in many sections of the county one may travel 
miles without seeing a single stone. It is only about the tops of the higher mountaiiLs that 
rocky precipices are to be found. A large portion of the surface of the county is a sort of 
elevated table-land, undulating, but seldom too broken for cidtivation. Even as one as- 
cends the higher mountains, he will find occasionally on their sides flats of level land con- 
taming several hundred acres in a body. The top of the Roan (the highest mountain in the 
county except the Black) is covered by a prairie for ten miles, which affords a rich pasture 
during the greater part of the year. The ascent to it is so gradual that persons ride to the 
top on horseback from almost any direction. The same may be said of many of the otiier 
mountains. The soil of the county generally is uncommonly fertile, producing with tolera- 
ble cultivation abundant crops. ^Vhat seems extraordinaiy to a stranger is tlie fact that the 
soil becomes richer as he ascends the mountains. The sides of the Roan, the Black, the 
Bald, and others, at an elevation even of five or six thousand feet above the sea, are covered 
with a deep, rich vegetable mould, so soft that a horse in dry weather often sinks to the fet- 
lock. Tlie fact that the soil is frequently more fertile as one ascends is, I presume, attrib- 
utable to the circumstance that the higher portions are more commonly covered with clouds ; 
and the vegetable matter being thus kept in a cool, moist state while decapng, is incorpo- 
rated to a greater degree with the surface of the earth, just as it is usually found that the 
north side of the hill is richer than the portion most exposed to the action of the sun's rays. 
l\ie sides of the mountains, the timber being generally large, with little undergrowth and 
brushwood, are peculiarly fitted for pastm-e gi-ounds, and the vegetation is in many places as 
lu.xuriant as it is in the rich savannah of the low countiy. 

" The soil of every part of the county is not only favorable to the production of gi'ain, but 
is peculiarly fitted for grasses. Timothy is supposed to make the largest yield, two tons of 
hay being easily produced on an acre, but herds-gi-ass, or red-toj), and clover succeed equally 
\vell', blue-grass has not been much tiied, but is said to do remaikably well. A friend 
showed me several spears which he infonned me were produced in the northern part of the 
county, and which by measm-ement weie found to exceed 70 niches in length. Oats, r\'e 
potatoes, turnips, &c., are produced in the gi-eatest abundance. 

" With I'espect to the prices of land, I can assure you that large bodies of uncleared rich 
land, most of which might be cultivated, have bee,n sold at prices vaiying from 25 cents to 
50 cents per acre. Any quantity of land favorable for sheep-walks might be procured in 
any section of the county at pi-ices varying from one to ten dollars per acre. 

" The few sheep that exist in the county thrive remarkably well, and are sometimes per- 
mitted to run at large during the winter without being fed and without sufferino'. As the 
number kept by any individual is not lai-ge enough to justify the employment of a shepherd 
to take care of thorn, they are not unfrequendy destroyed by vicious dogs, and more rarely 
by wolves, vehich have not yet been entirely extenninated. 

" I have been somewhat prolix in my observations on this county, because some of your 
inquiries were directed paiticularly to it, and because most of what I have said of Y'ancey is 
true of the other counties west of the Blue Ridge. Haywood has about the same elevation 
and climate as Y^aucey- The mountains are rather more steep, and the valleys somewhat 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 45 

broader; the soil generally not quite so deep, but very productive, especially in grasses. In 
some sections of the county, however, the soil is equal to the best I have seen. 

" Buncombe and Henderson are rather less elevated ; Ashville and Hendersonville, the 
comity towns, being each about 2,200 feet above the sea. The climate is much the same, 
but a veiy little wanner. The more broken portions of these counties resemble much the 
mountainous parts of Yancey and Haywood, but they contain much more level land. In- 
deed the greater portion of Henderson is quite level. It contains much swamp land, which, 
when cleared, with very little if any drainage, produces very fine crops of herds-gi-ass. Por- 
tions of Macon and Chen)kee counties are quite as favorable, both as to climate and soil, as 
those above described. I would advert particularly to the valley of the Nantahalah, in Ma- 
con, and of Cheoli, in Cherokee. In either, for a comparatively tiifling price, some ten or 
fifteen miles square could be procured, all of which would be rich, and the major part suf- 
ficiently level for cultivation, and especially fitted, as their uatm-al meadows indicate, for the 
production of grass. 

" In conclusion, I may sny, that as far as my limited knowledge of such matters authorizes 
me to speak, I am satisfied that there is no region that is more favorable to the production 
of sheep than much of the countiy I have described. It is eveiywhere healthy and well 
watered. I may add, too, that there is water-power enough in the different counties com- 
posing my Congi'essional District to move more machinery than human labor can ever place 
there — enough, perhaps, to move aU now existing in the Union." 

A writer in the Albany Cultivator, Mr. S. B. Buckley, of Yates county, 
New-York, who has visited these mountains, thus objects to the views of 
Mr. Clingman : 

" These mountains have a cold, damp climate, the summits of the highest being covered 
with clouds and mists a lai'ge portion of the sununer season. Cold rains are of frequent oc- 
currence, doubtless causuig the deep vegetable mould alluded to by Mr. C. A large jior- 
tion of the county of Yancey is an elevated table-land which is so damp and cold that the 
inhabitants do not raise corn sufficient for their own consTimption Mr. Husted in- 
formed me that in many seasons there was scarcely a month in the year without fiost .... 
that he had been on the Xoj) of the Roan on the 2.5th of June, when a snow stonn arose and 
completely covered the mountain, and that there were few days in the year but that it was 

foggy on the Roan I have ascended most of the high nioinitains in that State, and 

rarely without encountering a stonn, or finding their tops covered with mists, which disap- 
peared in the cool of the evening, to be resumed by the warming rays'of the moiTow's sun. 
In encamping on the mountains, I generally found the thennometer to range from 4.5° to 60'-', 
and on the high mountains, during the day, it seldom rose above ()5°. The inhabitants of 
the valleys pay gi'eat attention to the raising of cattle and horses, which, in the summer sea- 
son, are tvmied upon the mountains in what is termed 'the range,' wliich consists of tall 
weeds, native gi'asses, and in many places white clover has become naturalized. * * * * 

" These remarks will apply more or less to the mountainous region of Haywood and Ma- 
con counties, from which we conclude that they are not suitable to the raising of fine-wooled 
sheep, judging from their elevation, damp and cold climate, which, as before remarked by 
Mr. C, creates a deep vegetable mould, in which a horse will suik up to the fetlock. And 
would not sheep sink in also, and be liable to have the foot-rot ? And in yeaning time would 
not many lambs be lost from the frequent cold rains so common there during the month of 
May?"* 

In a previous communication in the Cultivator the same writer says : t 

" On the 12th of May I arrived at Ashville, (the capital of Buncombe county,) intending 
to visit Mt. Pisgah, a high conical mountain m full view, about twelve miles distant, over- 
topping its neighbors. I was told that the season was not far enough advanced to bring 
vegetation forward on the high mountains. . . . The climate of this region is not much, if 
any, wanner than that of Western New-York. During the summer of 1842, the thermome- 
ter ranged generally from 70° to 85° in the valleys, while on the motuitains it was frequently 

about (iO°, and sometimes much lower When I left the southern portion of Alabama, 

it was the middle of March ; the woods were gi'cen, with their full expanded leaves ; in 
about a week I had reached the elevated region south of Huntsville, in the northern part of 
the State, where the leaves had not yet attained half their usiial size. From the 1st to the 
lOth of April, in Middle Tennessee, the leaves were nearly full grown and the inhabitants 
were busy in planting corn ; but at the middle of April, for thirty miles on the table land of 
the Cumberland Mountains, the trees had just begim to put forth their leaves, and the ground 
was white in the morning with a severe frost. 

" On descending into the plains of East Tennessee, the country was green with verdure, 
and the fanners were there also busy in planting com, and now, the middle of May, among 

• See Albany Cultivator, 1846, p. 242. t lb., 1846, p, 174. 



46 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

the mouritairia of North Carolina, I found myself where vegetation had scarcely clothed the 
plains and woods with green, while the leaves of the high mountam trees were about half 
grown. I should also remark that the spi-ing of 1842 was from two weeks to a month ear-, 
tier than usual." 

I i-ecovfl a poftion of the last extract for subsequent reference ; and the 
ohject of these communications being to arrive at the truth, and not to 
ride a favorite hobby, or advance a preconceived theory, I have thought 
it proper to give the substance of all this gentleman's remarks, embodying 
as they do all the objections, real or supposed, which exist against the 
highest mountains in the whole Southern States for the pui-poses of sheep 
husbandry. 

Per contra, we have the following statements of Henry M. Earle, Esq., 
of Pacolett, Rutherford Co., North Carolina : * 

" On the question whether wool-growing will succeed in North Carolina or not, I would 
say that it depends entirely upon the exertions used, as I am thoroughly convinced that the 
country and climate are altogether favorable. The objections raised by Mr. Buckley, if they 
existed- in all the mountain region, might be considered serious ; but as they can only be of- 
fered against a few very high mountains, situated in the midst of many other mountains, and 
lar from any level or plain country, such a hiding place as he speaks of would not be such a 
place as persons raised in civilized or refined society would wish to settle in. The Roan 
and Black i\Ioun tains were selected by Mr. Thos. Clingman, because they were the most 
elevated and noted mountains in Yancey Co., and not, I presume, because he thouglit they 
would atVord the liest pasturage for sheep ; if so he was mistaken. On those mountains and 
in tlieir vicinity ai-e the finest grazing lauds f<jr cattle ; and so thqre is in the low, marshy 
laud of Sourii Carolina ; but neither location is favorable for sheep. I agree with Mr. Buck- 
ley, ' that a large portion of the county of Yancey is an elevated table land, which is so 
damp .and cold that the iuhalaitants frequently do not raise com sufficient for their own con- 
sumption.' This IS partly owing to the climate ; but mostly to the character of many of the 
inhabitants of those sparsely inhabited regions, where they too frequently depend upon the 
success of the chase for the largest portion of their subsistence. 

" But if Mr. Buckley, or any other gentleman of observation, will come GO miles far- 
ther south — on the line of the Blue Ridge, into Henderson and Rutherford counties, about 
the Tryou Mountain, which is the first that he will ascend in rising up from the level coun- 
tiy east of die Blue Ridge, along the Howard-Gap Turnpike — high on the acclivity of the 
Tryoti lie will find a bench of land which possesses a very peculiar characteristic. At night, 
generidly, there is a jileasant breeze, and for several miles along the mountain side there is 
never any dew to be found, and it is very rare that they have frost except in winter ; and 
w^hcn the whole counti-y above and below is covered with sleet, along this mountain side 
there is none. Here grow the fiaest native grapes that I ever saw, and the fruit crop never 
fails. And here are gi-own the heaviest wheat and rye in all the counh-y. Here the iidiabit- 
ants liave the first dawn of the moniing sun, and persons unaccustomed to the view fancy 
that tliey can almost see hitn coming up from the watei-y deep. Ou the eastern side of this 
mountain is the earliest pasturage in spring, and the latest in the fall that is found ui the 
whole range of mountains. 

" This location is about 40 miles E. S. E. from Ashville, and 20 miles S. S. W. from 
Rutherf irdton. Here two of those ever persevering men from the North, called Yankees, 
have commenced to wall iu a vineyard, and to cultivate the broom-corn for manufacturing 
brooms. They have the piu'est water that Hows out of the earth, and around them are 
beautifid cascades more than a hundred feet high, and above them the toppling pealc of the 
Tryon. 

" Thousands of persons throng this mountain region during the summer, to enjoy the pure, 
bracing atmosphere, which on the eastern face of the mountain is dry and healthfid ; but 
farther back, iu the mountains of the French Broad, there is much more dampness and 
heavy fogs. 

" You may readily conclude that along the eastern slopes of these mountains, the climate 
and ctiuntry are finely adapted to the growth of wool, as may also be seen by many of the fine 
flocks of native unimproved sheep, which wander here unteuded, regardless of wolves or 
dogs, their greatest enemies. 

" For two hundred miles along the eastern slopes of these mountains, south, there are 
situations well siiited for large flocks of sheep, and land is cheap. In many places it does 
not cost 7nore thiui 20 cents per acre, and very fair land may be had for 40 cents per acre." 

In an Address,t remarkable for the force and pertinency of its sugges- 

* Pee Albany Cultivator. 18J(5, pp. .'^G.'j-SGfi. 

t Delivered in M.irtinslnug, Va., Oct. 30th. 184.^, before the Berkley County AgTicultural Society, pub- 
lished in the Valley Farmer.Dec. 1845, and Jan. 1846. « 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 47 

tions, Col. Edward Colston, of Berkley county, Virginia, makes the fol- 
lowing statements : 

" The western part of oui- county, containing perhaps 30,000 acres, is mountainous. I 
have ridden there for ten miles witliout seeing a human habitation, and ahhough from its 
abundant lierbage it might sustain for its owners 20,000 liead of sheep, not a single one is te 
be found grazing on its surface. In this region may be found, also, much land fit for culti- 
vation, with fine meadows and abundant water. Yet all this is v^'orthless to our community, 
and a dead capital to the proprietors. There is territory and gi-ass enough here to lie di- 
vided uito three or four sheep-walks, each sustaining from 3,000 to 4,000 sheep during the 
summer, with meadow and arable land enough, at a small expense, to provide amply for 
whiter sustenance." 

Hon. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, in a letter to Mr. Skinner,* says : 

'Virginia has many advantages for breeding sheep, not surpassed in the United States, 
The middle part of the State, and es[)ecially the whole range of the south-west Mountains 
and Blue Ridge, afford the greatest facilities for fine sheep-walks. Hills covered with tine 
lierbage, extensive inclosm^es, abundance of running water, and well sheltered by trees 
against the heat and sun of summer." 

The following extracts are from a communication in the Monthly Jour- 
nal of Agriculture, t by Hon. W. L. Goggin, who recently represented the 
District he describes in Congress : 

" Bedford, the county in which I reside, is bounded on the south side by the Staunton 
River, on the north by the James River, while its western extremity, the whole length, 

reaches the top of the Blue Ridge The Peaks of Ottert are situated in this county, 

on the north-west coniei- — they are not only beautiful themselves, when seen as they are in 
the distance, but the whole range of the Bhie Ridge presents, perhaps, here, the most inter- 
esting view of the kind in the State. These mountains afford an unlimited range for stockj 
and the advantages for sheep-walks (mild as is the climate, combined with the productive- 
ness of the soil) that are nowhere equaled, as is believed, except by similar situations m 

the neighboring counties Ranges for sheep may be had at a veiy reduced price on 

the mountains, and where, too, could be produced all the gi-asses in which they delight, such 
as the red and white clover, the meadow fox-tail, short blue meadow-grass, lucern, rye-grass, 
&c. These advantages, and then the beautiful, clear streams which abound in all the moun- 
tain i-egions, invite a pastoral life." Speaking of Amherst and Nelson counties, he says: 
' The ranges for stock here, too, are extensive, and the beautiful, rich mountain sides inter- 
spersed with farm-houses, some of them even elegant mansions, betoken an uidependence 
among the inhabitants that is often found in such situations. Many of the mountains, to 
their very summits, are covered with the richest verdure." Of IMadison and Greene coun- 
ties he says: " Here, too, are abundant ranges, and the wonder is that sheep husbandry is 
not introduced." 

The character of the loftier mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, 
for the production of grasses, would seem to leave no doubt, in this par- 
ticular, in regard to the lower ones which form the prolongation of the 
same chains in South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Let us now turn 
our glance to the great western chain — the Cumberland Mountains — in 
Kentucky and Tennessee. 

The following extracts are from a communication published by Hon. A. 
Beatty in the Americati Agriculturist : 

" But it is not upon our high-priced rich lands alone that we can cany on sheep husbandly 
to advantage. Kentucky has a belt of hill and mountain country, bordering on the Virginia 
line on the east, and on the rich lauds of the State on the west, fiveraging about seventy-five 
miles in width, extending from the Ohio River and Big Sandy, latitucle 38° 30', to the Ten- 
nessee line, 36° 30' north. The whole of this region is admirably adapted to sheep hus- 
bandry ; the most northern part but a few minutes north of my residence, and extending 
about two degi-ees farther south. The lands are very cheap : the State price of those not 
yet appropriated only five cents per acre, and those purchased second-hand, more or less 
improved, may be had from 25 to .50 cents per acre, and still less when unimproved. This 
countiy in a state of nature furnishes, during the spring, summ(3r, and fall months, a fine 
range for sheep, and is susceptible of great improvement by clearing up and sowing the cul- 
tivated gi-asses for winter feeding. This whole country is finely adapted to the Spanish 

* Monthly Joumal of Agricultiire, July, 18 1.5, pp. 37-39. f lb., October, 1845, pp. 181-183. 

X The loftiest mountains, fts before stated, of Virginia. 



48 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

mode of sheep husbandly. Very large flocks might be driven to the mountain region, some 
thirty to sixty miles from the rich lands, immediately after sheanng time, gi-azed till late in 
the fall, and then brought back to be sustained during the winter on the luxuriant blue 
grass pastures of the rich lands of the interior. 

" A very intelligent iriend, residing in the southern part of the above distiict of country, 
speaks of it in the' following tenns : ' One of the strongest proofs of this region of country 
being favorable to the gi'owing of sheep stock is that we are situated in the same degree of 
uorth latitude with the sheep-raising |)arts ot Spain — Leon, Estremadura, Old Castile, &c. — 
only that our mountains are more richly and abundantly clad with luxuriant wild grasses 
and fern, pea vine, and shrubbery, than the mountain regions of Spain, where they raise 
such abundant stocks of sheep. Wayne County, with a few adjohuag counties, affords more 
lino water-power than any country of the same extent that I have ever known ; and for 
health, and fine, pure drinking water, no country excels it on the face of the globe. Now is 
the time to commence the business of sheep husbandry, while laud can be got almost for 
nothing. It is worthy of remark that our sheep, which are suffered to roam and graze in 
the mountains altogether, jiroduce about one-fourth more xuool at a shearing than the sheep 
that are raised and grazed altogether on our farms, and of much better quality.'' In an- 
other part of his letter he says : ' The tops of the mountains of Spain are sterile, without 
verdure, producing no food for sheep, or other animals, to gi-aze on. Our mountains are 
quite different. They are thickly clad from bottom to top, and all over the top, with fine 
rich wild grasses and shrubbery of every variety, for stock to graze on. In the midst of 
our mountains are to be found a great abundance of salt water and stone coal of the finest 
quality, together with a great variety of mbieral waters and pure springs.' 

" Another Iriend, residing in Knox County, wiites to me : ' My sheep upon my farm, ad- 
joining Barboursville, do not thrive, even with pasture and winter food, like the sheep in 
the extremities of the county, which have neither pastures nor winter food, except what 
they get in the woods. ^Vithout cidtivated gi-asses of any description, sheep will live and 
do vi'ell all the winter, subsisting on the spontaneous gi-owth of the countiy.' 

" Another friend, residing in the northern poition of the above-described mountain region, 
writes that ' the counties of Carter and Lawrence, and the eastern portion of the State, are 
admirably adapted to sheep husbandry. There are several flocks .)f sheep in this neighbor- 
hood that thrive and increase wonderfully, running at large, at little cost or tiouble to their 
owners. Many flocks have no other reliance, dining the winter, but what they get in the 
woods. The great advantages of this country for sheep husbandry are, the cheapness of the 
land, it adaptation to grasses, grain, and roots — its healthfulness. Sheep delight in moun- 
tain or hilly land ; the natural evergi-eens and shrubbeiy upon which sheep can feed and 
subsist on in whiter ; though it is not safe to rely altogether upon these. ' " 

Mr. C. F. Kramer of Woolverly Farm, Marion Co. Tennessee, va a com- 
munication in the Nashville Agriculturist,* says : 

" After having spent part of the years '43 and '44 on different parts of the Cumberland 
Mountains — the part of Tennessee more particularly recommended by all writers in your 
journal, and others, for sheep-walks — I have, since last tall, settled on a portion of them 
near Jasper, Marion Co. and will, as briefty as possible, give you the result of my experi- 
ence, which will, I believe, fully remove any eiToneous impressions hitherto made. 

" First, as to climate : The extreme salubrity of the mountains makes them the general 
refuge of the sick. Sheep here are remarkably healthy, and exempt from disease. The 
temperature is veiy even, varying during summer seldom more than from 7.5'^ to 80^ of 
Fahrenheit, nor in winter more than from 4')'^ to 30^. Snow during the two winters, little 
us there was of it, never remained forty-eight hours on the ground. 

" The forest, so far from being dense, seldom contains more timber, after cuttmg out the 
smaller growth, a.s dogwood, &c. than is desirable for woodland pasture. 

" The rocks, as far as my rambles have extended, are ' few and far between.' The bet- 
ter spots of soil (and there are enough to provide every fann with sufficient remunerariug 
arable land, under a provident and enlightened system of tillage) are covered with nutri- 
tious weeds, as pea-vine, &c. &c. which are nearly all greedily devoured by sheep and cat- 
tle, and on which they fare well. The poorer soil is covered with sedge-gi'ass, which my 
sheep have invariably eaten with avidity. 

" When our herds and lilue grass lands, which we are laying down, will be fit for pastur- 
ing, the cost of wintering wUl be greatly reduced, as the former yields good grazing in Feb- 
ruaiy — the latter during the whole winter. Our young catde kept in good condition on the 
winter-range and two ears of cum per head per day. 

" Although the wolves of our mountains are larger than those of the prairies, and may be 
more difficult to extenninate entiiely, yet, thanks to our good hunters, theii- ranks have been 
already so thinned that they mostly prowl about alone, or at most in pairs, committing their 
depredations by night, on the sheep and hogs that ai-e left to shift for themselves. In the 

* June, 1846. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



49 



two years that I have been here, I know of but two instances of their having attacked young 
stray cattle by night. By day, sheep are perfectly safe ; and I should presume that eveiy 
good sheep-master would have his flocks, for inspection, home at night, when any common 
fence will be an ample safeguard for them." 

To recur, for a moment, to Mr. Buckley's statements in relation to the 
Roan and some of the contiguous mountains in North Carolina — if we 
concede all his positions to be correct — it but proves that they are excep- 
tions to a general rule. But a review of his facts, it seems to me, scarcely 
justifies his conclusions. 

The vegetation which seemed so backward to him, coming from the 
warmer climate of Alabama and Lower Tennessee, was in fact but little, 
if any, later than that of the elevated grazing lands of Southern New- 
York. The following table* will show the average forwardness of the 
seasons at the location of fifty-eight Academies, scattered over New-York, 
for a term of fifteen years. And these Academies, as would be supposed, 
are rarely found on the high bleak hills. In fact, the number in the south- 
ern grazing region is but small, and they are mostly on the low bottoms of 
the larger streams. The same remark will also apply to the high region 
between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain. 

TABLE NO. 5. 



Shadbush in bloom. 



Peach 


do. 


Currants 


do. 


Plum 


do. 


Cherry 


do. 


Apple 


do. 



Strawberries ripe 

Hay harvest commeuced. 
Wheat do. do. 

First killing Frost 

First fall of Snow 



AJeun Date. 



May 1 

" 2* 

4 

6 

" 7 

" 15 

June 12 

July 18 

" 25 

Sept. 23 

Nov. 5 



No. of Localities. 



48 
57 
58 
52 
52 
59 
58 
34 
45 
57 



No. iif Observations 



168 
175 
269 
264 
250 
374 
210 
127 
186 
471 
536 



* As the Peach does not grow in the northern part of the State, this date must be considered the mean 
for the southern and middle parts only, and hence is too early as compared with other trees. 



The blossoming of the apple tree in the grazing regions of New- York 
takes place when the leaves of the forest trees are considerably less than 
half grown, as Mr. B, found them on the " high mountain trees " of North 
Carolina on the 12th of May. 

Snow storms sometimes occur in New-York as late as the one recorded 
by Mr. B. on the Roan ; cold, damp fogs are not found destructive to 
sheep in some parts of England and Scotland, where they prevail proba- 
bly quite as much as on these mountains ; and there are many parts of the 
grazing region of New-York, and good grazing lands, too, where the in- 
habitants " do not raise corn sufficient for their own consumption." As 
Mr. B. gives neither the dates nor the altitudes of his own thermometrical 
observations, no conclusions can be deduced from them. Speaking of the 
region about Asheville, the more definite statement is made by him, that 
during the summer of 1842, the thermometer ranged generally from 70 to 
85 degrees, (which he pronounces not much, if any, warmer than Western 
New-York,) "while on the mountains it was frequently about 60 degrees, 
and sometimes much lower." If hy freqtient, he meant ordinary temper- 
ature, the summer climate of these lofty mountains much resembles that 
of New-York in June — usually considered the month of the pleasantest 

* This table was prepared by James H. Coffin, a tutor in Williams College, from the Report of these 
facts annually required to be made by tlie Academies to the Regents of the University. This and some 
other tables and statements of Mr. C.'s, which I shall have occasion to quote, appear in a very able paper 
from him on the Climate and Temperature of New-York, in the forthcoming volume on Agriculture, in 
the Natural History of the Stite : some sheets of which have been politely sent me by Doct. Emmons, tha 
State Geologist, who has that volume in charge. 

G 



50 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



temperature of the year — equally removed from the chilliness of spring, 
and the sultry heats of the last two summer inonths. But as the altitudes 
of the latter observations are not given, they present us nothing definite or 
tangible. A smart walk of a few moments up or down a mountain side, 
would carry one through a variation of temperature amounting to a degree. 
By the rule of Professor Leslie,* commonly adopted, 300 feet of elevation 
diminishes the temperature 1° ; but the experiments of Humboldt, Gay- 
Lussac, and various other observers, have shown that this cannot be relied 
upon. One degree is usually equivalent to a greater ascent. Mr. Coffin 
(in the paper before alluded to) deduces the conclusion that in the State 
of New-Yoi'k, the ascent necessary to decrease the temperature 1° is 350 
feet. Taking the mean of the range of temperature of Asheville, as stated 
by Mr. B. it gives 77i° as the average summer temperature of that place, 
which, as will appear in the table below, is about 10° higher and warmer! 
than that of New- York for the same season and year, (excepting on the! 
beds of two rivers — the Hudson and Mohawk.) Applying the New-Yorki 
rule to the region of Asheville, it would require, then, an elevation of some- 
thing like 3,500 feet on the mountain sides above that place, to equalize 
the temperature with that of the greater portion of New- York. 

To show the entire accuracy of the subjoined table of temperatures, I 
would remark that it is founded on the Annual Reports of the Academies 
to the Regents of the University. The observations are therefore made 
by correct instruments, t on fixed conditions, and by scientific men. I have 
selected the points indicated in reference solely to a fair latitudinal and 
geographical distribution over the State ;J and to enable you to find them 
on the map, the name of the j)lace, instead of the Academy, is given : 

TABLE NO. 6. 



Flatbush.. 
Po'keepsie 

Albany 

Potsdam .. 
Lowville.. 

Utica 

Syracuse . . 
Pompey .. 

Homei' 

Ithaca 

Pi-aiti^biii-u:. 
Rochester. 
Wyoming. 
Frodoiiia . 
Lewiston.. 



Lati- 
tude.. 



40=73' 

41 41 

42 39 
44 40 

43 47 
43 06 
42 59 
42 56 
42 38 

42 27 

43 08 
42 49 

42 26 

43 09 



Elcva 
tion. 

40 



Temperature 1842. 



June, j July. 
64" 28 72 16 
61 29176 83 
72 66 
67 36 
67 52 
70 15 



130 


65 85 


394 


.59 62 


800 


60 51 


173 


63 58 





59 75 


1300 


.57 70 


1096 


58 88 


417 


63 80 


1494 


-S 83 


006 


60 66 


800 


.59 9? 


345 


63 42 


280 


62 05 



Near the extreme southern point of Long Island 

I On the Hudson. Elevation not given 



In St. Lawrence County ; north part of State. 
On the Black River 



65 77 64 BG 
64 20 63 50 

64 14 65 67 
69 65 67 74 

65 24 68 71 

66 94167 35 
71 50 56 99 
69 60 68 71 
68 91 68 50 



( Both in same county, but given on account of dif- 

} ference in elevation , 

In the southern or grazing region 

Do. do. 

Do. do. 

la the heart of the Wheat growine region 

Do. do. ^..^ 

In the grazing region ; on the shore of Lake Erie.. 
On Niagara River 



The five last named places are in " Western New- York." 

But there is one fact stated by Mr. Buckley, in relation to the lofty 
mountains of North Carolina, which, irrespective of all thermometrical 
observations, demonstrates conclusively, to my mind, their adaptation to 
sheep husbandry. This fact is, that white clover grows (of course, spon- 
taneously,) on them. Or perhaps I should rather say, that the mountains 
themselves become thermometers, their vegetation registering, by a well 
settled natural law, their temperate climate. Says Malte Brun : 

" Under the burning climate of the torrid zone, we have only to ascend the mountains, to 
enjoy the fruits and flowers of the temperate regions. Tournefort found at the base of Mount 



* Prof. L.'s rule, however, was only made applicable by him to trnpiral regions. 
t Half, probably, of the thermometers in common use are inHccuriite ! 

t For the records of tem))crature3 civen. «ec Report of the Resents, 1843, p. 240. For latitudes and ele- 
vations of the Academies, see Report of 1838, pp. 212 to 215, and map. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. ' 51 

Ararat the common vegetables of Annenia ; half way up, those of Italy Eiiid France ; and 
upon the summit, those of Scandinavia. Forster saw several Alpine plants upon the moun- 
tahis of Terra del Fuego." 

Mr. Mudie also remarks : 

" If we take each mountain as the index of its own meridian, we shall find that each one 
expresses, by its vegetation, all the varieties of climate between it and the pole."* 

Humboldt, and our own Doct. Forry, notice an equally striking develop- 
ment of this law, on the Western Continent.t 

This would go to show what I have little doubt is the fact, (my impres- 
sions, too, being strengthened by a comparison of latitude, elevation, and 
recorded thermometrical observations,) that on the sides of the Roan and 
other lofty mountains of North Carolina, and pretty well up on their sides, 
too, the climate is not greatly dissimilar from that on the high grazing 
lands of New-York and New-England. On the sweetest and best of the 
latter, white clover always comes up spontaneously, and Avill immediately 
I'e-sward any field thrown out of tillage. It sometimes flourishes on soils 
of ordinary fertility, but never on very sour or boggy ones, or on those 
the poachy character of which would render them liable to communicate 
hoof-rot or other diseases. It indicates, most decidedly, both a soil and 
climate fitted for sheep. 

You will not understand, Sir, of course, that in the remarks made and 
facts stated, at so great length, in relation to three or four mountains, my 
object has been simply lo refute the views of Mr. Buckley in relation to 
them. In a region of 70,000 square miles, the unadaptation of half a 
dozen mountains, or a much greater number, to this or any other branch 
of husbandry, would be of but little comparative importance. Anticipat- 
ing, however, the croakings of the timid — the exaggerated counter state- 
ments of those rash and sanguine men who are ever ready to rush inta 
whatever is netv, without judgment to guide or perseverance to sustain 
them : who abandon their undertakings at the first obstacle, and apologize 
for their ficklety by magnifying the difl[iculties encountered by them : I 
deemed it expedient to lay before you some useful data for comparisons,, 
(and conclusions,) which will be equally applicable in the case of all our 
southern moui:itains. 

The hilly and level regions west of the mountains, and lying between 
them and the Mississi2:)pi and Ohio rivers, scarcely require a separate no- 
tice — particularly after the statements of Mr. Cockrill, given in my second 
letter. As a whole, they are undoubtedly more fertile, and better adapted 
to the production of the grasses, than those of coiTesponding latitude, in, 
even the hilly zone, east of the mountains. 

* Mudie's World. 

t Since making the exti-act above from I^ralte Brun, I observe the following betl-er, or, at least, more defi- 
nite expression of the same fact by Doct. Forry : " In ascendintr a lofty mountain of the torrid zone the 
greatest variety in vegetation is displayed. At its foot and under the burning sun, ananas and plantains 
flourish ; the regions of limns and oranges succeeds ; then follow fields of maize and lu.'iiniant wheat • and' 
still higher, the series of plants known in the temperate zone. The mountains of temperate reiiions exhir 
bit, perhaps, less variety, but the change is equally striking." See Ferry's ClimaLe of the United States, 



52 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER V. 

PEOFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDPi^Y IN THE SOUTHEUN STATES.— I. DIRECT 
PROFIT ON CAPITAL INVESTED. 



Different points of view in which the question of the profitableness of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern 
Stales is to be regarded. ..Dii-ect protit on Capital invested first considered. ..Average prices of Wool in 
New-York. ..Average weight of fieece — Price of Sheep— Increase in Lambs — Amount of Manure. ..Price 
of 1-and. ..Number of Sheep supported per acre. ..Estimate of the Expenses and Profits of iOO Sheep, 
taking average prices of Wool for the last fourteen years. ..Present low prices of Sheep — Causes — Esti- 
mate of Profits of 100 Sheep, at present prices of Sheep and Wool. . .Profits far below what they might be 
by breeding better Sheep- . .Writer's Flock — Annual yield of Wool — Prices sold at for six years — Statistics 
of Premium Flock. . .Show that Wool can be produced at a large profit in New-York at present prices — 
Healthfulness and economy of substnuting Mutton for a portion of the Bacon consumed in the Southern 
States. ..Economical advantages which Sheep possess over other animals — No risk by Death — Manure 
more valuable — Beat clearers of Briery Lands — Improvers of Vegetation. ..The cost of producing Wool in 
the South, compared with the cost in New.York. . .Number of Sheep which can be supported per acre 
South — Greater number than on land of the same quality North, by reason of the winter growth of grains 
and grasses in the former... Col. Allston's statement — R. L. Allen's— Col. Hampton's — Hon. R. F. Simp- 
sou's in relation to the Atlantic States south of Virginia. . .Price of Lands in those States. ..Winter Vege- 
tation in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. ..Mr. Coles's statement — John S. Skinner's. ..Recapitulation... 
Estimate of Profits on lOU Sheep South— Compared with New.York. .-Profits on the .Southern Mountains 
Doct. Broekenboro's statements — Mr. Murdock's. . .Economy of Migratory .Sheep Husbandry. ..Advan- 
tages for it in the South compared with those of Spain. ..Drawbacks on Profits of Sheep Husbandry — 
Dogs and Wolves.. .Their depredations compared with those in Australia and the Cape of Good Hope... 
Remedy. 



Dear Sir: In ascertaining the Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the 
Southern States, several considerations present themselves, apart from the 
mere question of direct annual profit or loss on a given investment in 
Sheep and in land for their subsistence. The more immediate and obvious 
profit is doubtless the first question ; but in regarding the general advan- 
tages or disadvantages of this branch of husbandry — particularly in a re- 
gion circumstanced in all particulars as the Southern States are — we are 
farther to consider the practicability and comparative economy of making it 
the basis of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those 
which have been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation ; 
and its comparative efficacy in giving to Southern Agriculture a mixed 
and convertible character, and thereby sustaining (or improving) all the 
present good tillage lands, in the place of continuing the " new and old 
field " system — (tilling land until it is worn out, then abandoning it and 
opening new lands,) — once so general, and even now by far too prevalent. 
And there is another point of no mean importance : whether, independent 
of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep 
husbandry proved no more profitable, in direct returns on capital invested, 
than some of the present staples, it would not be better economy, on the 
whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture domes- 
tic woolens, particularly for the apparel and bedding of slaves, than to be 
dependent for them on England or Massachusetts. 

To ascertain the direct and immediate profit on investment in sheep hus- 
bandry, let us appeal to well settled facts and statistics, instead of content- 
ing ourselves with vague and general propositions. For the following 
Table of the average prices of good wool* in the State of New- York, which 
was published in my replies to Mr. Walker's " Treasury Circular " in 

• Such wools as are used for the manufaotnre of broad and other cloths of good quality — ranging, say, 
from Jth blood Merino to pure Saxon— excluding native, grade (below ^ih Merino), and all English wool^ 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



53 



1845,* I was indebted to a most respectable and extensive purcliaser of 
wool, and its accuracy is beyond question. 





TABLE No. 7. 




Year. 


Arcrage price per pound. 


Year. 


Average price per pound. 


1832 

1833 


40 cents. 

50 do. 


1839 




1840 

1841 

1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 


33 do. 

35 do. 

30 do. 

o'l do. 

40 do. 

32 do. 


3834 . 


45 do. 


1835 

1836 

1837 

1838 


48 do. 

54 do. 

30 do. 

36 do. 



It will thus be seen that for a period-of fouiteen years preceding 1845, 
the average price of good wools was SOy cents per pound.? 

The average weight of fleece in sheep yielding this wool has been about 
3 lbs. ; the pure-blood Saxons less ; but those bearing the coarsest wool 
included, in the average, more. 

The average price of sheep of the quality under consideration, has been 
not less than $2 per head in the fall, and lambs half that price.| The an- 
nual increase in lambs would be about 80 per cent., or if less by reason of 
the number of wethers in the flock, the gron-f.h of the latter would give a 
corresponding increase in profit. One hundred sheep, properly littered, 
will make at least forty loads of manure during the one hundred and fifty 
days during which they are confined to dry feed, in our Northern 
winters. 

The grazing lands of New-York, cut up as they are into small farms,]] 
and each being provided with dwelling and farm buildings, are worth 
from $15 to $30 per acre. Prime sheep lands will average about ^20.§ 

In relation to the amount of land necessary to support a given number 
of sheep, the experience of a good many years has satisfied me that the 
rule commonly laid down on the grazing lands of New-York and New- 
England, that, on the average, one acre of land will give subsistence to 
three fine-wooled sheep throughout the year, is an accurate one.1] On 
grain farms, it is considered good economy to keep one sheep for every 
acre of cleared land which the farm contains ; on those where mixed 
husbandry is practiced, two ; and, on those exclusively devoted to sheep, 
three. 

In the following, and all similar estimates, I shall reckon the profits on 
the land and expenditures, instead of the land and the commovlij quoted 
•prices of grass, hay, &c., consumed. These prices, in the interior, are 

* See Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1845, p. 461. I thought, and so stated to Mr. Walker, that 
the Table placed wools about \k cents per pound too high. But subsequent information has convinced me 
that I was in eiTOr. In my statement of the average profits of sheep husbandry, in those replies, I estima- 
ted the average price of wool by the prices paid by a local and much smaller purchaser, and for a com- 
paratively limited term of years. I was not then aware of the utter defectiveness of the U. S. Census re- 
turns (pointed out in Letter II.) in relation to the annual product of wool, and therefore was misled in the 
average weight of fleeces ; and, speaking from impression rather than experiment, I jilaced the value of 
the manure altogether too low. Those questions and replies have led me into experiments and inquiries, 
which have resulted in more accurate information. I allude lo this subject, because I think it ev<^ry man's 
duty to correct any errors or explain any discrepancies subsequently discovered by him, in his elalementa 
which have been thrown before the public, and thus are i>laced in a position to mislead. 

t During 1846 it was from 30 to 32 cents per pound, but as this estimate is not based on extensive pur- 
chases, like the precedimr, I have not placed it in the table. 

% Including ^rorfc sheep, which form the greatest proportion of the whole number. There have been 
very few pure-blood Merinos in the .«tate, and many of the t'axon tiocks have been so miserably deterio- 
rated in carcass and weight of fleece, that they have sold for low prices. But good .'^axons sold much 
above this until within three or four years ; since then, the Merinos have been rapidly driving out the 
Saxons, and those of good quality and undoubted pedigree have sold for fiom live to twenty-five times as 
much. The higher the price, the greater the profits, by reason of the value of the increase. 

II It would be my impression that the farms in the grazing regions do not, on the average, exceed>130 
acres each. 

§ Id est, in the grazing region. 

4[ I say " fine-wooled sheep," because the larger and coarser Downs, Leicesters, Cotswolds, &c. consume 
much more, as will hereafter be shown. 



64 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



i 



merely nominal, as they cannot be obtained for beyond a small portion of 
the annual crop. They do not, therefore, form a proper basis for coiTect 
general estimates. 

The expenses and losses in keeping sheep, not already alluded to, are 
all set down below, as high as they will average on well managed farms. 



Dr. 



$ cts. 

)U0 Sheep to iiitci-est on purchnse money I'l 00 

To int. on 3;!^ acres of land at $20 per aero 4o h'() 

" curing and storing hay on 11 acres of above. 13 75 

" expense of shearing 4 00 

" salt, tar and summer care 4 00 

" labor of foddering, <fcc., during winter, say. 5 00 
" loss by death 2 per cent. abo\e the value of 

pulled wool 4 00 

Tot.al $9lli 



By 300 lbs. of Wool, at 39 4-7 cts per lb.ll,-< 71 3-7 

•• 80 lambs at SI per head 80 00 

" 40 Shorse load.s of winter manure at 

.5(1 cents per load 20 00 

" Euriimcr manure, calling it only equal 

to shearing and summer care* B 00 

Total §226 711^7 



Balance. ■■ $135 30 3-7 



INIaking the net profit of $4 05, or 201 per cent, per acre on lands 
worth $20. 

Since the passage of the Tariff of 1846, there has evidently been a panic 
among the wool-growers of New- York, and the rise in bread-stuffs, beef, 
pork, and dairy products, occasioned by the change in the British Tariff, 
and the famine which has prevailed in Europe by reason of the short crops 
of 1846, has tended farther to depreciate sheep, by ofterinp- inducements 
supposed to be very strong, to embark in branches of liusbandry furnish- 
ing the former staples.f Sheep are consequently cheaper than they ever 
were before. Prime grade sheep, bearing wool of as good quality as the 
average of that embraced in Table 7, have in some instances sold for ten 
shillings per head, and coarse common sheep for one dollar — lambs half a 
dollar — making, in the ordinary proportion between lambs and grown 
sheep, about 75 cents per head, taking a flock throuoh ! 

Wool of the quality embraced in Table 7 has fallen to an average of say 
31 cents. Under the impression that sheep and wool have reached their 
minimum prices, | it becomes an interesting subject of inquiry whethei 
they can yet be produced, at a profit, in New-York. The following figures^ 
I think, will fairly show : 



Dr. 



S cts 



100 Sheep, to interest on purchase money, at 

$1 25 per head 8 75 

To int. on 33i acres of land at $20 per acre.-4C 66 
" cutting, curing and storing hay on 11 acres 

of al)ove 13 75 

" expense of shearing 4 oo 

" tar, salt and summer care 4 00 

" labor of foddering. <.tc. during winter, say. 5 00 
" loss by death 2 per ct. above the value of 

pulled wool 2 ,50 



Total ,S84 60 



Cr. 



$ rts. 



By 300 lbs of Wool, at 31 cents per poimd. . .93 00 

" 80 lamlis, at 62:V cents per head 50 00 

" 40 2-horse loads of winter manure, at 50 

cents per load gO 00 

" summer manure, calling it only equsd to 

shearing and summer care 8 00 

Total $171 00 



Balance ^ g(; 34 



Making .f2 59, or nearly 13 per cent, vet profit per acre on lands worth S20. 

In the preceding estimates I have only regarded the profit of sheep hus- 
bandry, as it has averaged for a series of years, among those possessino- 
good ordinary flocks, '^ 

wiVj.vTl? I'"' 'T'T^ manure, undoubtedly considerably below its actual value. No experienced farmer 
w> 1 say that irood s(,hd sheep manure is worth less than 50 cents per load, and as the sunmier inanure a 
Caluabir" "' ''"""'"^'' ""'' ■' '''^'°'"°'^ immediately on the land. I see no reason why iUsn?t equally 

^ '[''"'. ''"^•l''"'""ti™ of English duties on these staples will give them a bettor and steadier market there 
can bo htt n doubt ; but not the vorrj hi^^h one of the past season, occasioned by the severe fTmiewWh 
has prevailed m many pans of Great Britain. W.my. 'therefore, who have sacriLed their shelo reckon n<^ 
on such prices, will probably find that they have "reckoned without their ho=t ,.'''''""' '''-''P' reckonrng 

+ f ''-X ""^ >inder the decided impression that our wools, at this price, if properlu masked anrJ n„t «« 
would tnutnphan.ly compete in the foreign markets with those of .1 e woo -fi-oS nmions of Eurou?: 
and even with tho.se of Ausuralia, the Cape of Good Hope, and other Austro-or enTa" re-fons Fofa mo?e 
lull oxammauon of thia point, eee Appendix D. it^ious. r or a more 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 55 



It falls far short of that realized by breeders and flock-masters, who 
started their flocks with the best pure-blood sheep then to be found in the 
country ; and who have subsequently continued to improve them by great 
care in breeding, and by a rigorous course of selection. 

I have bred Merino sheep for a number of years, and latterly in consid- 
erable numbers ; and in no case have my grown sheep averaged less than 
5 lbs. of well washed wool per aniumi. The quality of the wool may be 
inferred from a comparison of the prices at which it has sold, with those in 
Table 7. In 1846, I sold for 35 cents per pound ; in 1845, for 331 cents ; 
in 1844, for 48 cents ; in 1843, for 33^ cents ; in 1S42, for 35 cents, and 
so on. 

To give more precise data, I select the following statement of the pro- 
ducts of a flock, on which I drew the first premium offered by the New- 
York State Agricultural Society for " the best managed flock of sheep," 
in 1844 : 

[Fiom the Traiieactions of the N. V. State Agiicultural Society, 1844, p. 2o4.] 

•' In the wiiiler of 1843-4, I wintered in a separate floclc filty-one ewes ovei- one year 
old, two ewe lambs, two rams, one of tliem one and one of them two years old. Of the ewea 
over one year old, twenty-eight were full-blood Merinos ; twentj'-three were liali-l)lood Me- 
rinos and half-blood South-Downs; the two ewe Iam!)s wore three-fourtli-blood Merino and 
one-fourth-blood South-Down ; and tlie two rams were full-])lood Merinos. The flock were 
kept as follows through the whiter: They were fed hay morning and night, and were, as a 
general rule, required to eat it np clean. At noon the tlock were daily fed three bundles of 
oats and barley (which had grown mixed, say three parts oats and one part ijarley,) until 
ihe 25th of December — after which they received four bundles of oats. The grain was 
light and shrunken. They received no hay at noon during the winter, and usually consumed 
all tlie straw of the grain fed them. They had a good shelter, and access to pure water at 
all times. From this flock I raised iifty-tiiree lambs. The full-blood Merinos, including 
two rams, and the two tliree-fourth-blood lamlis, (in all thirty -two,) sheared one liundred 
and eighty-six pounds and four ounces of washed wool, which I sold at foily -eight cents per 
jiound. Four of the full-bloods had two years' fleeces on. The hall-blood Merinos and 
half-blood South-Downs (twenty-three) sheared eighty and one-half pounds of washed wool, 
seventy-one pounds of which I sold at thirty-eight cents per poinid. During the summer of 
1844, the flock were kept in good ordinary pasture, and salted once a week." 

Thus, the Merino fleeces averaged 5 lbs. 131 oz. and sold for S2 79-| each ; 
and the grades between Merino and South-Down averaged 3 lbs. 8 oz. to 
the fleece, and sold for $1 33 each. 

It will be observed that four of the full-bloods (they were ewes) had 
two years' fleeces on. A two years' fleece will not weigh as much as two 
single years' fleeces from the same sheep. On the average, it will weigh 
about three-quarters as much.* On the other hand, the lot included two 
three-quarter-blood lamb fleeces, which would fall below the average 
weight of the others, and a portion of the flock were yearlings and tAvo- 
year olds. The Merino never attains its maximum weight of fleece before 
three years old, and ordinarily not until four, and therefore the aggregate 
weight of wool of the 32 sheep, given above, does not, to say the least of 
it, give too favorable a view of the product of sheep of this quality. This 
is proved by the fact that my entire flock of full-bloods sheared about 
three-twentieths of an ounce over six pounds each, the succeeding year. 

It would give me great pleasure to subjoin similar statistics of other 
carefully bred flocks, were authorized statements of them in my posses- 
sion, or published within my knowledge. 

It is sufficiently apparent from the above facts and estimates, that wool 
has not yet reached the lowest point at which it can be produced at an 
ample profit, on lands of the value indicated, if the sJieep are of the j^roper 

* That is to say, if the single years' flaeces would equal 6 lbs. each, a two years' fleece, instead of weigh- 
ing twice as much, or 12 lbs., will not exceed three-quarters of such aggregate weight, or 9 lbs. The wool 
wastes when it becomes so long, and perhaps does not grow so rapidly. 



56 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH, 



qualitrj ; and these facts farther suggest the expediency of relying on our 
own efforts to " protect " this interest, rather than the fickle support of 
National legislation. 

For tlie production of a cheap, wholesome, and highly nutritious food, 
no animal excels the sheep. Theoretical considerations, as well as exper- 
iment, show the superiority of mutton to pork in the formation of vigor- 
ous muscle ;* and its tendency is less, particularly in hot climates, to en- 
gender inflammatory and putrid diseases. The consumption of consider- 
able quantities of fat is indispensable, in cold climates, to supply the 
necessary amount of carbon to support " combustion," as Liebig terms it, 
in the lun^s, or, in other words, to maintain the animal heat. Hence the 
Laplander and the Esquimaux find a grateful diet in train-oil, or the adi- 
pose parts of Arctic fish and mammalia. That fat pork should be the 
favorite meat, in the Northern States, is not perhaps so singular, but that 
it (under the name of bacon) should constitute the principal one consumed 
in our warm Southern latitudes, and especially that it should constitute so 
laro-e a proportion of all the food consumed,t is indeed a most anomalous 
fact, and is utterly unparalleled among the practices of other nations occu- 
pying the same latitudes. The tendency of this practice to produce dis- 
ease, physical inertia, indisposition and incapacity to sustain continued 
activity, \vill not, I think, be questioned by the pathologist or the close 
observer. 

Mutton and lamb are a favorite, if not the favorite food of the English 
of all classes. Notwithstanding all that has been said and written of the 
" roast beef" of" Old England," mutton is more eaten there by people of 
every rank.| On the other hand, it is evidently 7iot a favorite meat in the 
United States, though its proportionable consumption is evidently increas- 
in,of. Whence the difference % Circumstances have led to habit, and habit, 
in a great measure, regulates appetite. It needs no other proof than is 
to be found in the experience of every individual, to show that the appe 
tite is readily trained to relish what was even positively disgusting, and to 
become indiiferent to what was once the most grateful. 

That the preceding facts are well worthy of attention among those who 
are favorable to the introduction of sheep husbandry, among planters who 
supply not less than 3 lbs. per week of good bacon, or a full equivalent, to 
each slave, on plantations where the number ranges from ten to one hun- 
dred, and sometimes many more, there can be little doubt. Twenty-five 
slaves would thus consume 3,900 lbs. of bacon per annum ; and the more 
common allowance of the opulent planter is about 200 lbs. per head, or 
5,000 lbs. for twenty-five. If an equivalent for at least half of this was 



1 



* The theoretical considei-ationB will be fovind sufficiently discussed in Liebij's "Animal Chemistry." For 
experiiiientil evidence, I know of none that cnn be more depended on— which approaches any nearer 
actual demonstration— than that which is furnished by the Enclish prize-tieliters. To attain the proper con- 
dition to sustain the protracted and trem<>ndous exertions of their brutal trade, their tiesh must attain the 
hardness and tou;:hness of whipcord, and they must, at the satne time, maintain that physical elasticity 
(t<!chnicaUy, " corkiness,") which adds agility to iron strenizth. Those men, while trainins;. are suttbred to 
eat little or no adipose matter, and not even the liati of pork. Their animal food is exclusively beef or 
mutton, or both. Some trainers prefer the former, some the latter. I have seen this matter very fully al- 
luded to. but do not now remember any more explicit authority than that contained in the following note 
to Carpenter's Principles of Human Physiolosy, (p. 357.) 

"Tlie method of training employed by Jackson, (a celebrated trainer of prize-fighters in modem times,) 
as deduced from his answers to questions put to him by John Bell, was to beain on a clear foundation by 
an emetic and two or three ptirges. Beef and mutton, the lean of fat meat being preferred, constituted the 
principal food ; veal, lamb and pork were said to be less digestible ('the last purges some men'). Fish 
was said to be a ' watery kind of diet ;' and is employed by jockeys who wish to reduce weight by sweat- 
ing." 

f I mean this portion of the remark to apply more particularly to the non-laboring classes. The propor- 
tion consumed by the slave, though ample, is not excessive, when his laboring habits are taken into con- 
eideration 

J I slate this on the aulhoritv of various individuals who have been much in England, and who have 
been jilaced in po.sitions to form a pretty accurate opinion. Mr. Colnian speaks of the •'extraordinary" 
consumption of mutton in England, williout, however, giving any comparative data. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 57 

made in mutton, it would be far cheaper, and", if I have not erred in previ- 
ous statements, better for the slave. 

There ai'e two or three other highly favorable considerations to be taken 
into account among the direct profits of rearing sheep. 

The risk by death, by ordinary causes, is nothing. Two per cent, is al- 
lowed in the preceding estimates, as the full product of wool and increase 
is earned out. Bxit, in reality, the sheep never dies " insolvent." If the 
colt or the bullock dies on our hands, after two or three years of trouble 
and expense with it, the loss is nearly a total one. If the fine-wooled 
sheep dies at any age, the wool then on it, or what it has already produced, 
more than covers all the cost which it has ever made us.* 

Not only is the winter manure of the sheep superior to that of any other 
domestic animal, the hog and fowl excepted, but it practically becomes 
still more so in proportion, in summer, when scattered over the pastures, 
by reason of the conditions in which it is deposited. The soft porous ex- 
crements of the cowf or horse, exposed to the exsiccating action of sun and 
wind, evolve most of their fertilizing properties into the atmosphere, and 
this effect would increase in proportion to the warmth of the climate. The 
excrements of the sheep, on the other liand, are deposited in small, hard, 
rounded pellets, which fall down between the leaves of the grass, and are 
thus in a great measure protected from the sun and wind, until they are 
trodden into and incorporated with the soil.f Then, again, they need no 
spreading,!! like the dung of the horse and cow. And finally, instinct, in 
leading the sheep almost invariably to seek the summits of the elevations, 
in warm weather, for its night quarters, leads it to deposit much more ma- 
nure in proportion, wheie it is most needed, on the drier and more ban-en 
hill-tops ; and where, being more remote from water-courses, less of its 
iuices are liable to be washed away by rains, into the streams, or on to the 
lands of others. 

Sheep are also far more efficient than aiiy other animal (if we except 
the worthless goat) in clearing up now hinds, or neglected old ones, of 
those briers and shrubs which it is often difficult to eradicate without plow- 
ing ; and they often abound on lands \vhich cannot be plowed with profit. 
And, when plowed, the shrubs in the fence corners must be left (to the 
utter shame of all good husliandry), or the fence must be removed — some- 
times at a great inconvenience. The slieep delights to browse on the buds, 
and to strip the bark of most sljrubs,§ and they thus soon destroy them. It 
would be good economy for the farmer to keep his neighbors' sheep, with- 
out charge, on all very briery or coppiced unarable lands, if he could not 
60 stock them himself. 

Finally, it is generally believed by experienced flock-masters — and ob- 
servation has led me to fully coincide in the opinion — that sheep not only 
improve the lands they depasture more than any other animal, but that 
they exert an almost specific influence in improving fJie character of the 
vegetation. All wild, poor grasses gradually disappear from their pastures 



* I speak, of course, of the cost of reaving and feeding. 

t Gazzeri found that 100 parts of recent cow-dung contain 25 per cent, of dry, solid matter, and that 5 pet 
cent, of this is lost in 40 days by exposure to the air. I do not think tlds indicates the full loss which would 
bo sustained in a southern latitude. 

% These rounded pellets are covered, too, in the animal in good condition, with a coating of mucus, which 
farther protects them from evaporation. 

II Their urine, also, is voided in quantities which render it highly beneficial ; while that of the horse and 
cow is voided in such large quantities in one place that it is not only in a great measure wasted, but in a 
dry time (so that it is not diluted by the moisture in the soil), its rich salts, so far from benefiting, actually 
kill the verdure. 

% This is particularly true of the blackberry or bramble (Bulrus villosus), and the raspben-y (Ruhns 
idoeus), often great pests on new or neglected lands at the North. Sheep can even he made to attack tho 
elder (Samhucus canadensis var. pubescens), and various other troublesome intruders, by turning them upon 
Ihem in thawing "spells," in the winter, after they have been for some time confined lo dry feed. 

H 



58 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

f 

and are succeeded by the be^t ones ; and the swai'd becomes remarkably 
dense and even. This is probably due to the richness and better distribu- 
tion of their dung and urine. 

If upward of twenty per cent, profits, over and above all expenditures, 
have lieen and still can be made, on lands worth $20 per acre, by wool- 
growing — on lands, too, where the reign of an iron winter confines sheep 
to dry feed at least five months of the year — how are we to estimate those 
profits on lands costing but a small part of this sum, which, though inferior 
to the former, will, by reason of the shortness and mildness of the winter 
support about an equal number of sheep per acre, and also save the ex- 
pense of preparing dry feed, of foddering, and a large proportion of that 
laid out in barns, shelters, &c. ] 

It will be seen that, by assuming the data of the last of the two preced 
ing estimates (with the exception of the loss by death), the gross cost ol 
producing 300 lbs. of wool, on the grazing lands of New-York, is $82 16, 
or 27|-| cts. per pound. This is undoubtedly as loiv as it can be produced 
where the fleeces do not exceed the average weight of 3 lbs. Let us now 
proceed to inquire what would be the gross expense per pound in the 
Southern States. 

You inform me that " one or two — not more — " sheep find subsistence 
during the summer on the natural pastures of the tide-icater zone in South 
Carolina.* The broad-tailed, and other large breeds, now mainly fed 
there, consume nearly double the amovmt of feed required by the fine- 
wooled sheep. But, to make our estimate perfectly a safe one, we will 
assume that two fine-wooled sheep only will consume the summer herbage 
of an acre. Fields of rye sown in September or October, you farther in- 
form me, will support " two sheep and their lambs" per acre, " from the 
20lh of December to the 10th of March." Numerically, then, here you 
have the same stocking that is borne by the lands of New- York, viz. three 
sheep per acre. And, making the allowance already alluded to for the 
different consumption of breeds, an acre would sustain three full-gi-owp 
Merino sheep. As the rye subsequently yields its crop, the wool is not 
chargeable with the expense of its tillage. 

Rye will continue to grow in the winter on all lands not too sterile, oi 
too elevated, south of latitude 36°, and, in favorable situations, at least 
two degrees farther north. Grass, and some other hardy esculents, also 
maintain a winter vegetation in many portions of the whole of this re- 
gion. t 

R. L. Allen, Esq., after a recent visit to the plantation of Col. Wade 
Hampton, near Columbia, S. C, thus speaks of the winter verdure in that 
region : 

" Though everything like grass or weeds is rigidly excluded in the early stages of the 
y;rops. yet, as these approach maturity, the thick netting of crab and varioTis other gi-asses 
ftud plants, which are ever sti-uggling tor existence in this wann clime, are allowed to come 
forward and mature ; and their growth furnishes forage for cattle and sheep during the win- 
ter, and an important addition to the vegetable manures for mniing under and adding to the 
fertility of the soil. . . . The sheep, together with the cattle, mules and horses, which 
are not at work, are turned into the natural pastxires in summer, and, hi addition to these, 
they have the ran of the coni-fields in winter, and without seeing any other shelter a^iinst 
the severest storms than a thicket or hill-side, they tln-ive and fatten throughout the year. — • 
This condition is secured by the milduoss of the clunate, and the consequent growth of vege 
tatiou duiing the entire winter." 

* 1 These statements, and all others credited to Col. AUston, are, when not othenvise specified, contained 
U loners from that gentleman to the writer.] 

t Among iheee, " a plant called -Wild Rye.' aftbrdinj excellent herhase diirini the wintermonth.?. springs 
up epontnncously on the rice-field banks, and between the cotton beds, on some plantuliona on the River 
Congaree, & Z" 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 59 

John S. Skinner, Esq. thus writes me :* 

" Col. Hampton's flock numbers 800, 1 believe. He kills the finest sort of mutton thi'out'h 
out the winter and spring — very fat and excellent in all respects. He told me last summer, 
at Saratoga, that they never get a mouthful except what they can find in the woods and 
fields." 

Hon. R. F. Simpson, Member of Congress, of Pendleton, South Caro 
lina, thus describes the region in which he resides, and some of the contig 
uous ones :t 

Henry S. Randall, Esq. Washington, Jan. 22, 1847. 

Dear Sir : I take much pleasure in answering yom- inquiries, and only regret that I have 
not more time to do full justice to the subject. If my answers fail to inform you with suffi 
cient clearness on any point, I shall be most happy to add to them, at your suggestion. 

The Allegany Mountains, as you are aware, run from N. E. to S. W. That part of them 
north of the S. C. line lies spread out in different chains or ridges to a distance of nearly ,50 
miles ; and the whole region is commonly called " on the mountains." The climate is healthy 
and the grass fine. Many of the valleys in this region are very rich, particularly on the wa- 
ter-courses. The ground is covered wth snow as much as four weeks annually. The ran^e 
is good, but there may be too much humidity for sheep.t The land is cheap, say $1 per 
acre — but much can be bought at .50 cents. I have learned from gcjod authority that sheep 
can be farmed out during the winter at ten cents a head, in any ordinaiy quantity. The 
fanners who talie them, too, will be liable for loss by death, in many instances. 

There is a stiip of country lying east of the Blue Ridge, and parallel to it, fi-om 20 to 30 
miles wide, extending through North and South Carolina and Georgia, which I think espe- 
cially adapted to sheep husbandly. The land is poor for the pioduction of our southern sta- 
ples, and is sjiarsely settled, but the pasturage is good. There is a perennial eriss. known 
as " woods grass," which springs up in the woods after they are burned each winter, which 
makes excellent pasture for all kinds of stock. It starts vigorously in the spring, and sheep 
fatten on it by the middle of July. It lasts all the summer, and provides suflicit nt food for 
sheep duiing the entire winter, except when snow is on the gi-ound, which is not more than 
two or three days at a time, and usually not more than ten days during a winter. 

The few days during which the grass is covered up with snow are the only ones, during 
the entire year, when it is necessaiy to feed sheep. This is usually done with oats in the 
sheaf . . . Supposing ten sheep equal to one cow, I think one acre would afford sub 
tiistence to three sheep. 

But few people mow here. In a few instances, herds-gi-ass has been sown and mowed, 
but the product not weighed, to my knowledge. Both herds-gi'ass and the natural ones, on 
our bottom lands, look much richer, and to all appearance would turn off a heavier crop of 
hay than any meadows to be seen on the line of travel through Virginia. 

As I have before remarked, the land is poor, except the small bottoms on creeks and 
branches. The latter are rich, and will produce 30 bushels of corn and from 10 to 15 bush- 
els of wheat per acre. They also produce oats and rye, but I do not know how much by 
measurement. I suppose from 10 to 20 bushels each. The land is valued low — fiom 50 cts. 
to $1 50 per acre — and it is only necessary to buy $500 or $1,000 worth of it, to embrace 
sufficient bottom to raise provisions, and oats to feed sheep when snow is on the ground. — 
The rangell is very large, and everybody's stock has liberty to roam over it, without hin- 
drance or compensation. 

Our common method of managing .sheep is as follows : The flock are kept in the planta- 
tion during the winter by some ; others turn out in the woods. In May they are sheared, 
the lambs mai-ked, &c., and they are turned into the out pastures. AVhen they come up, 
they are salted, and no other attention is paid to them until fall, when most persons shear 
again. They are rarely brought up unless to get a lamb for the table. This treatment ren- 
ders them wild, and prone to jumj) into the owners' or neighbors' wheat fields, from which 
they are driven out with rocks and sticks, and sometimes with dogs. They ai-e, in all re- 

* Jan. 15, 1847. 

t This letter would have been more appropriately included in my IVth Letter, but was not received in 
time, and it is by tar too valuable and interesting to be omitted. 

X The ett'ect of humidity on sheep is, I think, often misunderstood and greatly exaggerated. Wer, cold 
soils are imcongenial to sheep, but they sutler no more from those ordinary fogs and vapors which prevail 
in insular positions, or which arc attracted by mountain ranges, than other domestic animals. As has been 
before remarked, sheep thrive in the peculisrly foggy atmosphere of England — also in Holland. Their 
healthiness on mountains is proverbial, yet these elevations are usually subject to fogs, and clouds rest on 
the sides or summits of the loftier ones. As the southern mountains are cleared of their trees, their atmo- 
sphere will be less humid, and that soft vegetable mould (which excited the fears of Mr Buckley) will ac- 
quire the consistency which it always does on a dry foundation, when exposed to the sun and air ; and it 
will bo the means of supplying the sheep with rich vegetable nutriment, instead of poisoning them with 
•* hoof-ail." 

II The provincial signification of this word, South, is the uninclosed pasturage in the forest and "out 
fields,"— i. e., wom-out lands thrown out to commons. 



60 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



1 



epects, treated more like outlaws than domestic animals. When out, all the flocks in the 
neighborhood mingle together. From their disposition to ramble, and the incursions of dogs, 
they get scattered, and scarcely any fanner can get up to the fall sheaiing more than one- 
half of his count. 

The region above described includes Pickens, Grenville and Spartansburg, so far as this 
State is concerned. Going east of this strip, you at once get into good land, where the set- 
tlements are frequent. Here snow is rare, and wheat, rye and barley are used for winter 
pastures for sheep, and they continue growing during the winter. Wood grass does not 
abound in tliis region, as the woods are not kept burnt.* 

Very respectfully, yours, &c. R. F. SIMPSON. 

The preceding statements give a sufficient idea of the expense of feed- 
ing sheep in the Carolinas, Georgia, and the Gulf States. In all of these, 
there is a striking similarity in soils and natural products, and also in cli 
mate — with, perhaps, the exception of North Carolina, w^hich is a trifle 
colder. In all of them, as well as in all the other Southern States, land 
can be bought at the same low prices.t 

The cost of the winter forage of sheep in Tennessee may be infen-ed 
from the statements of Mr. Kramer, (in Letter IV.) On even the lofty 
Cumberland Mountains, in that State, grass grows during the entire win- 
ter, and snow rarely covers the ground to exceed forty-eight hours ! Judge 
Beatty's statements in relation to Kentucky (in the same letter) show that 
the luxuriant blue-grass pastures of that State will sustain sheep during 
the entire winter ; and that they frequently obtain their whole subsistence 
on the grasses, even on the mountains. Let us now turn to Virginia, the 
most northern of the Southern States. In a recent letter to me, John S. 
Skinner, Esq. says : 

" Hon. Mr. Coles, a Member of Congress from Virginial — a sedate, attentive and practical 
fanner — once informed nie that his flock of 200 sheep, kept in good condition summer and 

winter, did not cost him $10 a year You must knov^' that they, in tiie general 

way, as I believe, never i'eed their sheep, winter or summer, except where the gi-ound is 
covered with snow — which is rarely the case, and then the snow does not lie more than a 
day, or at most two days. . . . No doubt winter pasture might be provided by sowing 
rye in the proper season (the usual system is to sow it the last thing, and as long as the 
farmer can " catcli a chance") and putting the ground in good condition ; and in that way 

adequate provision might be made for any deficiency of natural pasture When 

the snow does cover the ground in Virginia, they give the sheep corn-blades — an excellent 
fodder. I tliink tlie rule was wlien I was a l)oy (in the rare exigency alluded to) to give 
them a l)undle of blades eacli. A bundle of blades compacted woidd be about as large as 
the upper part of your arm." 

North- Western Virginia seems to be considerably colder than the corre- 
sponding j)ortion of thu State east of the mountains ; and the winter fod- 
dering season is not gr-j-atly shorter — though the amount of fodder con- 
sumed viust be far less — than in Western Pennsylvania, or in many por- 
tions of Nfiw-York.|! Yet, singularly enough, more sheep are bred here 
in proportion, probably, than in any other portion of the Southern States! 

* Some other pnragraplis from this letter are omilted for quotf.lion under the heads of which they specif- 
icnlly treat. 

i Ilm .S '^ironj. a Member of Congress fiom this (N. Y.) .Slate, writes me, after coiisultatioii with vori- 
ous Souihem Meiiil)er«, that " good lauds may be purchased for .$1 50 per acre, and in great abundance, in 
must of the Souiiiern Stnte-." 

iWr. (hirrct Andrews, of Wilkes Co., Georgia, in a communication in the American Agriculturist (April, 
1844), Bay!.' ; "Several hundred acres (in the middle or hilly zone) are often sold )br a dollar or less ner 
acre. Tiie usual rule is to fell the wood-land for what it may be thought to be worth, and give the pur- 

cha.ser the old lands and the hou.~cs for nothing For St.OOO or $1,.500, a comfortable house and 

out-liou'es, garden, (fcc. may be had, •villi fcveral hundred acres of land, . . wanting nothing but a fair 
chance to become as fertile ap may be desired. . . . 'J'bere is no end of the materials for miinure." 

I rc.ct ntly Siw it Ktale'i by a gertleman in a communication which wa« ])ublifihi'd in the N. Y. Farmer and 
Mechani. V that >ie was authorized to gicc away good hmd in the (Jumbei land .Momilains to sober and indua- 
triovis aetiletp. 

The prices in the N'. C. Mountains will he seen from Mr. Clinginan's letter, (Letter IV.) 

X Mr. Coles resided in Filtsylvania, a county adjoining North Carolina, in the middle or hilly zone. 

1| .lesse Kdgington, of HoUiday's Cove, Rrookc Co , Va . writes me : " Our average time of foddering is 
at least 4 monilis, and wc generally provide provender equal to 5 tons of hay for" e.-ich hundred grovm 
sheep, for the winter." 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



61 



This region being essentially Northern in its characteristics no allusion 
will be had to it in subsequent remarks. 

It will be seen from the preceding statements that in many, if not most 
situations, throughout the whole Southern States, sheep will obtain suffi- 
cient food throughout the year from the pastures,* or from autumn-sown 
grains, excepting on the higher or more northern mountains. As has been 
before remarked, as the grain subsequently yields its crop, its tillage is not 
properly chargeable among the expenses of producing wool. The prepa- 
ration of hay, and labor of foddering, are also dispensed with. By the 
rule of estimation followed in relation to New-York, the items on the debit 
side of the account would then be — interest on purchase money; interest 
on land; expense of shearing; salt, tar, and general supervision ; and loss 
by death. The items on the credit side would be the same with those of 
New-York. 

Youf own statements. Sir, as well as those of Mr. Simpson, show that, 
in many situations, both in the tide-water and hilly zone, three sheep can 
be supported on the herbage of an acre, without other fodder. His stat6- 
ments show that such lands can be bought at " ft-om 50 cents to $1 50 per 
acre." The annual account then would stand thus : 



Dr. 



100 sheep — to inteiest on purchase money, at 

$1 25 per head $8 75 

To interest on 33^ acres of land at $i 50 3 50 

" expense of shearing 4 00 

" salt, tar, and general supervision 8 00 

" loss by death 2 per cent, over and above 

value of pulled wool 2 50 

Total .$26 75 



By 300 lbs. of wool at 31 cents per pound. ..§93 00 

■' 80 lambs, at tJ24 cents per head 50 00 

" Manure t ' 28 00 



Total $171 00 



Balance $144 25 



Making $4 32, or tico hundred a?id eighty-eight per cent, clear profit per 
acre, on lands worth %\ 50 ! 

By the respective estimates it will be seen that the gross cost of pro- 
ducing a pound of wool (allowing 3 lbs. to the fleece) is, in the Southern 
States, SjL cents ; in New-York 27i^|^ centsj — or nearly three and a half 
times greater in the latter ! I have put down the expense of sheaiing the 
same in both cases, and the supervision, South, twice as high as the sutti- 
mer care, in the North. Shearing always costs Si a day, per hand, in the 
North, and the summer care devolves upon the paid laborer whose every 
hour counts. The shearing would not be worth to exceed $2 a hundred 
on a plantation where slaves are kept, and the supervision or care could 
scarcely be considered an expense, when it could be borne mainly, if not 
entirely, by superannuated or decrepit slaves, or even by children. The 
real expense of growing wool on land of this quality and price would be 
about 5^2" cents per pound ;|| and calling the fleece 4 lbs. (which weight it 
always ought to be made to attain) it would but little exceed 31 cents.§ 
This is above Mr. Coles's estimate of expense in southern central Vir- 
ginia, and Mr. John S. Skinner has repeatedly expressed the opinion that 
it could be grown in various parts of the Southern States at 3 cents per 

* This supply could be rendered far more certain and available, where drsirnble, by leaving a portion of 
the fields undepastured in the latter part of summer and autumn. This "fog'' or afte.'-grass would not only 
aiford much food, of itself, but it also greatly favors the sprouting of the young grass uudemeaih it, by the 
protection it offers from frosts and cold winds. 

t I have put this down the same as at the North, because I suppose it is just as valuable at the South, 
and quite as much needed. Few are dii=posed to appreciate the value of manure when it is not presented 
to their view in bulk, as in the barn-yard ; but it is worth quite as much, dropped in the first instance 
over the fields. I feel confident that I have not over-estimated its value either for the South or the North. 

J To obtain these resuhs, I divided the whole annual e.xpense, as set down in the respective estimates, 
with the excejnion of the charge of 2 per cent, for loss by death, by the amount of wool produced. For 
reasons already given, I do not consider the wool chargeable with such loss by death, except in an es- 
timate where the full product of wool and lambs is carried out. 

[j In this estimate I call shennng $2 per hundred, salt and tar $1, and supervision nothicg. 

5 Estimated as in the preceding note. 



62 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

pound* My own impression, however, is that the land, properly in- 
closed, that will support 3 sheep per annum, will cost, ex'^.ept in occa- 
sional localities, not less than $4 or $5, let the amount be more or less ; 
and this would bring the cost of production (with 3-lb. fleeces) to between 
7 and 8 cents per pound. I shall hereafter assume it to be 8 cents. 

On many of the more northern mountains of the Southern States, and 
on the high peaks farther south, neither the grasses nor grain grow suffi' 
ciently to support sheep, unless the range is very large in proportion to 
the number, during the winter.t Here, as in the Northern States, dry feed 
must be prepared for the winter subsistence of sheep. This can be read- 
ily done, as the best meadow grasses of the North and the clovers flomish 
on the sides of the mountains.^ There" is little doubt that sheep can be 
wintered on dry feed on many of the mountains, and yet, on account of 
the extreme cheapness of the lands, the cost of producing wool not exceed 
eight cents per pound. 

In the circumstances of many of the lowland plantations, it would be 
a most economical arrangement to siimmer the sheep on the mountains, 
and then drive them to these plantations to be wintered on pasture, fog, 
or grain fields, according to convenience. After the lambs have reached 
a sufficient age in the spring, and the sheep are shorn, marked, &c., a 
flock might be sent thirty, fifty, or even a hundred miles to its summer 
range on the mountains, at a trifling expense ; and large numbers could 
be kept there under the sui'veillance of a single shepherd and a brace or 
two of dogs. By this system the lowland plantation would be saved from 
maintaining pasture on more expensive lands ; many of its less marketa- 
ble products could be converted into wool, meat, and manure ; and it 
would be enriched by the wintering of the sheep. 

Such, you are aware, is the system of sheep husbandry in Spain. The 
sheep are wintered on the plains of Estremadura, sometimes reaching the 
north of Andalusia. Both of these provinces, though in a latitude cor- 
responding with that of a portion of the United States, extending from 
Albemarle Sound to a little north of Philadelphia, are parched, during the 
summer, to a state of arid sterility, by the burning winds of Africa.|| In 

* See Monthly Journal of Arrriculture. 

t With sufik-ient ran;;e, however, they not only obtain subsistence, but set fat. .John S. Skinner, Esq., 
■writes me : " In the mountains ot Virginia, viz., at the Warm Springs, Dr. Brockenboro told me that a 
flock of sheep which he had bought for use during the watering season, strayed, and got off beyond reach 
during the summer ; that the winter after they were rarely seen : and that a.= chance otfered they were 
fhot ; and that tiner and fatter mutton he never desired to see." The Warm Springs are in Bath county, 
among the Western or Allegany I\[ountains, a few minutes north of latitude 38°. 

J See Mr. Goagin's statements in Letter IV. Since the above was written, I have received the following 
statemnnls from Mr. W. Murdock, of Asheville, Biincombc county. North Carolina : 

" Kxcellent swards of grass are grown in this district from Orchard grass or Cock's-foot. Timothy and 
Italian Rye grass 1 have found to thrive remarkably well. 1 never saw them do better in any country. 1 
received ray seeds from England, and they succeeded admirably, and in ground by no means favoraljle to 
H fair trial. Turnips succeed remarkably well here, and even l.'iO miles fitrthcr south, as I am informed by 

Mr. Edward Calhoun— the kinds I don't know — l)ut here the Globe, Aberdeen, Norfolk, &c., do well 

If grounds were reserved as you suggest, for the winter feeding of sheep, the fall growth being under- 
jiastured. and if some of the stubbles were plowed up and sown broadcast with turnips mixed with rape 
or colza, very little fodder will be required, in fact only when snow is on the ground, which seldom ex- 
reeds fifteen or twenty days during the year." [This fully contirms the positions assumed by me near the 
close of Letter IV.] 

■' I think that Curled Kale would be excellent for the winter keep of sheep, or cattle of any kind. J got 
6ome seed from England and sowed it like any cabbauo seed. I put out the jilants two feet asunder in but 
tolerable ground, h grew three feet high and two fe(-t in diameter. That I planted in the open field the 
eheej) got at in October, and ate it, stock, branches and all, to the ground. That planted in the garden has, 
like the rape, stood the severe frosts uninjured. It is a delightful vegetable all the spring, and stands a 

warm or a cold climate This and rape are. I think, all the green food necessary to keep sheep 

through the winter, with the addition of a little hay. Rape may be sown broadcast in moist weather in 
May or June, and mown oti" for the sheep, when required, about six inches above ground. If the shoots 
are not required for pasture, let them go to seed, and the feed will pay better than any other crop, for 
making oil and rape cake." 

II Here is n notable instance of the want of correspondence between isothermal and latitudinal lines be- 
tween the west of Europe and the eastern portion of our own Continent. The two Spanish provinces the 
latitude of which is above given, have a climate more resembling the scorched llarws of Caniccas than any 
portion, even the most southerly, of the United States. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. ' SiS 

the winter, however, they are covered with verdure. About the first of 
May the sheep start for the mountains.* Formerly many of them rested 
on the lofty parajneras and mountain sides of Old and New Castile — the 
latter bleak, sterile and craggy, compared with the sides of our own South- 
ern mountains. But a friend recently from Spain informs me that those 
once magnificent flocks (now, alas ! thinned by confiscation,! the whole- 
sale plunder of invaders, J and for the subsistence of adverse armies,] |) do not 
at present stop in any considerable numbers on the Castilian mountains, 
but pass north to the Cantabrian, and that portion of the Iberian range 
north of Soria — or crossing the latter, spread over the Eastern Pyrenees, 
and the mountains of Saragossa north of the Ebro. 

Anything like an elaborate comparison between the facilities for sheep 
husbandry furnished by the mountains of Spain and the Apalachians of 
the United States, south of the Potomac, would, perhaps, be out of place 
in this connection. But a glance at them may throw useful light on the 
question of comparative profit. If the Spaniard can giow wool at a profit, 
where the natural and physical features of the country gives him no ad- 
vantage over us, we can certainly do so ; for in every other respect we 
have the advantage. 

The Eastern Pyrenees I'ise to a hight of 10,000 feet,§ more than double 
that of the Peaks of Otter, or that of any other portion of the Apalachian 
range, with the exception of a few summits in North Carolina. Mount 
Perdu, one of the Pyrenees, is 11,283 feet in hight,^| or 4,807 feet higher 
than the Black, the highest mountain of the United States east of the Mis- 
sissippi. Maladetta, Vignemale and others rise considerably above 10,000 
feet.** Glaciers exist on different parts of the whole chain. " The acclivity 
of the Pyrenees on the side of Spain, is often extremely steep,tt present 
ing a succession of rugged chasms, abrupt precipices, and huge masses of 
naked rock."J| Minano, a Spanish writer of authority, in defending his 
countrymen from the charge of indolence, speaks particularly of the ef 
forts of the hardy peasantry on the " almost inaccessible mountains of the 
Asturias, Galicia and Catalonia." The vegetation on these mountains is ex- 
tremely variable, in some places being as luxuriant as the best on our South- 
ern Apalachjians, but more fiequently dwarfish and meager. On large 
portions of them it is entirely wanting. The northern acclivities are fre- 
quently swept by cold and piercing gales from the Bay of Biscay. On the 
whole, it will be seen that they do not comjiare with our southern moun- 
tains in the advantages which they offer for sheep husbandry.] | 1| 



* For sinsrular and interesting particulars in relation to their march, &.c., and the municipal regulations 
pertaining tliereto, see Livingston on Sheep, p. 36 et supra. 

t Some of the choicest flocks in Spain were confiscated by the Government during the great anti-Gallic 
struggle. In the winter of 1809, the Spanish Junto confiscated the great flocks of the infamously celebrated 
Godoy and several other nobles, ard they were bought by foreigners for exportation. 

J The French Marshals, not finding anything in Spain to benefit the/7(e arts o( labclle France, as in Italy, 
condescended, it is said, to benefit her Agriculture, by driving home some of the best flocks of Spain. The 
Allied Armies compelled the restitution of the viarhle and canvas, but those jn-icclcss flocks either could not 
be re-collected, or they were not regarded as of sufficient importance to be returned. 

II The Commissariat of the English, French and Spanish armies, 

" The foe, the victim, and the fond ally," 
found the great Spanish flocks a very convenient resort, and availed themselves of it fully. The Guerillas, 
contrabandists, and fugitive inhabitants, of course, did the same. 

5. Malte Brun. TI lb. ** Kncyclopa^dia Americana ; art. Pyrenees. 

h Montserrat (in Catalonia), so famous for its monastic establishments, will occur to you in this connec- 
tion — where the steepness is so great that the monks ascend from hermitage to hermitage by ladders or 
stairs cut in the rocks ! |t Encyclopaedia Americana ; art. Pyrenees. 

II II How much the associations of early life — early reading — dispose us to exaggerate even the physical 
extent of the region covered by these mountains, connected as they are with so many romantic and inter- 
esting remembrances ! The whole chain, extending from Cape Finisterre to Port Vendres,^does not exceed 
2.50 rniles in length ; and the space covered by it is not, in Western parlance, a " circumstance " to that oc- 
cupied by our Southern Apalachians ! Yet, iii the western half of this chain, Pelayo and his successors 
maintained their Visi-Gothic kingdom, overthrew the descendants of the Abassides and Omrniades, and 
finally wrested Spain from the Moorish yoke. Who remembers, without the map under his eye, that Bau 



64 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The route pursued by the Spanish flocks fi-om, say, the middle of Es- 
tremadura to the Cantabrian mountains (the western portion of the Py- 
renees), cannot fall short of 300 miles. It equals 270 miles in a direct 
line. In addition to the length of the journey, they are compelled to cross 
the Castilian mountains, and if they come from the south of Estremadura, 
also the mountains of Toledo. Their route to the eastern Pyrenees would 
be farther and still more difficult. Every circumstance, then, excepting 
municipal regulations,* gives our Southern States, on both sides of the 
Apdlachians, a manifest advantage over Spain, for the purposes of migra- 
tory sheep husbandry. 

Before closing the investigation of the question of the direct pi'ofits of 
wool-growing in the Southern States, it is proper to inquire if there are 
any special local militating causes or disadvantages not yet adverted to 
which should be taken into the account. Diligent investigation has satis- 
fied me that there are no such causes — on the other hand, that there is a 
remarkable exemption from them — with one exception. That exception 
is the destruction caused by wolves and dogs. 

Wolves are found in nearly all new, and particularly in mountainous 
countries ; but they invariably rapidly give way before the extension of 
population.t They have even now ceased to be very destructive in the 
most sparsely settled regions of the South. Mr. Simpson, in the letter be- 
fore quoted from, says : 

" There are but few wolves in South Cai'oliua, excepting on the mountains. Otherwise, 
our sheep which roam at large untenJeJ by sheplierd, and uncared-for by any one, would 
soon be exterminated. The wolves are not numerous even on the mountains. They are 
not so destructive as dogs, which every now and then attack and desti'oy the sheep. A 
trusty shepherd, with a dog or two and a rifle, would prevent this." 

These remarks would apply equally well to nearly all the Southern 
States. Wolves do but little damage, and would soon cease to do any ; 
but the miserable, prowling curs are, in many places, a serious detriment. 
There is something singular in the fact that while so much complaint is 
made of them in the Southern and Western States, in New- York, where 
there is certainly a great surplus of them, we hear little, comparatively 
speaking, of their depredations. I am inclined to attribute it to the fact 
that dogs are here constantly familiarized with the sight of sheep. The 
first even playfiil movement of the adventurous puppy toward them is 
severely chastised, and he is thus educated to recognize them as within 
the category of " protected " animals. The dog which slays or even pur- 
sues a sheep, finds a long -pedigree or a silver collar utterly unavailing to 
save him fi"om immediate death.f 

But even in the South or West, the loss occasioned by the depredations 



nockbnm was fought and Flodden lost to defptirl a Kingdom nf half the dimensions of a good-sized Ameri- 
can State ! In compaiing the agricultural capahiliiies — and especially in estimating the ultimate result of 
aaricultui-al competition lietwcen oin- own country and the European ones, we rarely take sulHcienily into 
view the great disparity in territorial dimensions. 

* For the monopoly of privileges conferred on the flock-masters of Spain to the oppression and prostra- 
tion of every other branch of hu.sbaTidry. see Lasterie. nnd iilso Livingston on i^heep. 

t A bounty of $10 is paid for the destruction of every full-grown wolf, and S5 for a wolf's whelp in the 
State of New-Yo'k. 

X In New-York it is provided by law that every bitch over three months old shall be taxed $2 : every ad- 
ditional one owned by the same man $5 ; tieo docs over 6 months old $\ ; every additional one .|3. The 
avails of these taxes constitute a t'und, out of which Supervisors of Counties are to pay for any sheep slain 
by do23 whose owners are unknown. This is not often enforced. 

.\ny person may kill any dog " which he shall see chasing, worrying, or wounding any sheep," unless by 
direction of owner. 

The owner or possessor of any dog on being notified " of any injury done by his dog to any sheep, of 
his dog having chased or wonied any sheep," must within 48 hours kill his dog. or forfeit $2 50, and the 
farther suin of $1 2:"; for every 48 hours thereafter, unless " it shall satisfactorily'appear to the Court that it 
was not in the power of such owner or possessor to kill auch dog." Revised Statutes of Kew-York, vol. L 
chap. XX., title xvii. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 65 

of other animals, or the expense of guarding against them, would be light 
compared with that in some of the wool-growing regions of the Old World. 

In Australia, the sheep are exposed to the attack of wolves, dogs, and 
convicts, and are constantly attended by a shepherd, and nightly folded, 
and guarded by a watchman with dogs and a fire.* 

At the Cape of Good Hope, the shepherd and folding system is also fol- 
lowed. In addition to wolves, and wild dogs which hunt in packs, and 
from their superior sagacity are much more formidable than wolves,t the 
Cape sheep are preyed upon by a variety of animals, and when they pass 
the mountains to glean the herbage which springs on the banks of the 
streams on the vast and lonely Karoos, they are exposed to the attack of 
the lion, the panther, the leopard, and the whole Feline family, so abund- 
ant and so particularly formidable in Southern Africa.l And they have 
had, and probably yet have, an enemy more destructive than all of these, 
in the Bushmen, more wild, irreclaimable, and predatory than their con- 
geners, the Bedouins of the Arabian desert. || 

I have seen it proposed§ to teach young cattle to protect sheep from 
dogs, in the following manner : Turn a few steers into the pasture with 
the sheep, and with them a cow or two, having young calves at their sides. 
Send a dog into the field, and immediately the cows, followed by the 
steers, will commence a furious onset on the dog, and gore him or drive 
him from the field. After this is repeated a few times, it is said the steers 
will suffer no dog to enter the inclosure. 

This might do very well under some circumstances, but I should prefer 
to rely on the remedy proposed by Mr. Simpson : the dog and the rifle. 
There are no " shepherd dogs " large and powerful enough to encounter 
and Jcill wolves and vagrant dogs, excepting the great sheep-dog of Spain ; 
and he is so irreclaimably ferocious to all excepting his charge, that he 
might frequently bring his owner into difficulty, and even endanger human 
life. My impression is that a shepherd dog or two, to be on the alert, 
and a brace of mastiffs to capture and, if need be, slay wolf or cur, would 
be adequate protection for the sheep on a considerable range, and the 
expense of maintaining them would be trifling. 

* Cunningham's "Two Years in New South Wales," vol. i. p. 251. 

t Missionary Labors and Scenes in Southern Africa, hy Rev. Robert Moffat, pp. 23-4. 

I The following stanza from the spirited lines of Freiligrath — " The Lion's Ride " — will occur to you : 

"And the vulture scenting a coming carouse. 
Sails, hoarsely screaming, down the sky ; 
The bloody hyena, be sure, is nigh. 
Fierce pillager he of the charnel-house ! 
The panther, too, who strangles the Cape-Town sheep 
As they lie asleep, 
Athirst for his share in the slaughter, follows ; 
While the gore of their victim spreads like a pool in the sandy hollows ! " 

II To these may be added the savage Kaffirs, who, in their recent struggle with the Colonial Govemmenti 
destroyed and drove oti' immense numbers of cattle and sheep. In 1834, " the natives," says Youatt, " drove 
off or destroyed 80,000 cattle and sheep almost innumerable." 

§ By a writer in the American Agriculturist. 



66 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER VI. 

PROFITS OP SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES— 2. AS THE 
BASIS OF AMELIORATION IN NATURALLY STERILE AND WORN-OUT 
SOILS. 

Feasibility of rendering the naturally sterile and wom-out Soils of the South productive . . . Means must be 
ample and cheap.. .Orijiiiiiiy Animal Manures from Stables, &c., not attainable in sufficient quantity — too 
expensive if transported far by land carriage.. .Animal Manures of Commerce still more out of the ques- 
tion.. .Gypsum — not sufficient of itself. . -Wood Ashes — Leached Ashes — their great value, but limited 
quantity. ..Lime (marl). ..Swamp Mud— inexhaustible quantity of each.. .Valuable Effects of Lime on 
Soils... Other wise when there is a deficiency of Organic Matter.. -Opinion of Johnston, Brown, Lord 
Kaimes, Anderson, Morton, Thaer, Petzholdt, Chaptal.. .Southem Tertiary and Granitic Soils destitute of 
Organic Matter.. .Expcnsiveness of Marl— not very pennanent in its efl'ects. . .The best Swamp Mud worth 
more per load.. -This, too, an expensive manure. ..Both too costly for extensive ameliorations.. .Is there, 
then, any resort? —There is — it is to be found in a Mixed System of Green and Animal Manuring, the lat- 
ter made attainable by Sheep Husbandry.. -Experience and Testimony of various English Farmers under 
analogous circumstances.. . Reasons why Sheep are preferred to Horned Cattle for this purpose. . .Con- 
sidered more profitable in Encland. and by some in the United States, independent of Fleece. . .Singular 
Hallucination of Col Taylor on this subject... Sheep preferred as Improvers of Poor Lands in the North- 
ern and Eastern States, but the end sought by different means from those employed in England. . .The 
English Systetn— Reasons why it is inapplicable in the United States. . .System in the Northern and East- 
ern American States. . . Proper System in the Southern States, on Lands now partly Grassed, and on Naked 
Soils... Green Manuring — how accomplished — Proper Plants for the purpose — Practical Rules — Expensive- 

iiess.. -Should the Pasture Lands of the South be exclusively devoted to Sheep Grazing? — Should not 

Home Demand should be supplied by Home Production, in the Staples furnished by all the Domestic 
Animals — Reasons therefor.. -As a surplus or exporting Animal Staple, Sheep furnish the one in which 
the South can best compete with other Producers. 

Dear Sir : Let us now pass to the second point in reference to which 
we are to consider the profits of sheep husbandry in the Southern States, 
viz. : the practicability and comparative economy of making it the basis 
of an effectual amelioration in soils naturally sterile, or those which have 
been rendered so by excessive and injudicious cultivation. 

The first of these classes of soils is confined, mainly, to the tide-water 
zone. The second is found both in this and the hilly zone, and, I need 
not say, in immense quantities. 

How can these soils be profitably amelioi'ated 1 It is certain that this 
can only be done by the introduction into them of substances fitted to be- 
come the food of plants — or which, by chemical combinations or changes, 
prepare other substances to become such food. On soils naturally too 
sterile to sustain useful vegetation, the quantity of fertilizing matter intro- 
duced must be comparatively lai-ge. Hence it must be cheap, or its cost 
will more than overbalance its advantages. There are various manures 
which separately, or in conjunction, would convert the worst acre of bar- 
ren sand between Richmond and Raleigh, or, if you please, on the Desert 
of Sahara, into a fertile garden, provided it could have timely rains and 
be protected from the burying sands. But it is utterly useless to argue 
the fcasibUity of this means or that, without at the same time examining 
its ecorwmy. 

The direct and profuse application of animal manures, for example, 
would probably effectually ameliorate any of these soils. But where ai-e 
these manures to be obtained, in a region where the first necessary condi- 
tion for their production, i. e. the vegetation necessary to support domes- 
tic animals, is wanting 1 The quantity accumulating in the cities and vil- 
lages of a comparatively sparsely populated region — in a climate where 
the preservation of putrefying substances would be incompatible with 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



67 



health, would be inconsiderable. And whether more or less, it would not 
pay the cost of transportation to any considerable distance by land car- 
riage. Guano, poudrette, bone-dust, and all the expensive manures of 
commerce, are still more out of the question. Gypsum, on account of the 
smallness of the quantity requisite, is a cheap manure, and, reasoning from 
analogy, should be a valuable one, under proper circumstances, at least on 
the granitic soils of the South.* Mr. Ruffin states that it produces little ef- 
fect in the Tertiary sands.t It is considered by practical men to be, at 
the best, rather an aider of organic manure than a substitute for it, and 
when repeatedly applied without any other fertilizing substance, it ceases 
to produce any visible effect. On an exhausted soil, the chemical consti- 
tution of gypsum shows that it could not replace all the substances ab- 
stracted by the plants ; and on one naturally sterile, there is small proba- 
bility that it would happen to supply the only deficiency necessary to the 
production of vegetation. Wood ashes constitute a most valuable manure 
on probably every class of soils, and. unlike lime, gypsum, soda, etc., which 
afford only a limited number of those substances which constitute the 
necessary food of plants, they afford in a greater proportion than any 
other manure the inoiganic substances which are taken up and assimilated 
by plants.| They are used with the most beneficial effect on the granitic 
soils of New-England, the calcareous and aluminous ones of Middle New 
York, the silicious ones of the southern or gi'azing region, and on the Ter- 
tiary sands of Long Island. On the latter, of the same geological forma- 
tion with your tide-water zone — in fact but a continuation of it — even the 
leached or washed ashes bring a shilling per bushel (the same that is paid 
for the unwashed ashes by the soaper and manufacturer of pearl or pot 
ashes) for agricultural pui-poses.H But the supply cannot be made suffi- 
ciently large for extensive agncultural ameliorations, without a destruc- 
tion of the forests, which would inflict a grievous and utterly inexcusable 
wrong on posterity. 

The Southern Atlantic and Gulf States possess two natural and inex- 
haustible deposits of fertilizing matter, which, it is supposed by many, 
would be fully adequate to the general " reclamation "§ of their barren and 
exhausted evils. The first of these is the marl, which underlies large por- 
tions of the low country of Virginia and South Carolina, and probably the 

■* I refer here to the successful example of its use on the granitic soils of New-England. I have particu- 
larly specified this class of soils because your barren ones are limited to them and to the Tertiaiy. Gypsum 
is used at the North on nearly every class of soils with advantage — calcareous, aluminous, silicious and all 
interinediate varieties. It will be found very valuable, I have no doubt, on your mountain lands, particu- 
larly in localities where the clovers flourish. 

t Ruiiin's Agricultural Survey of South Carolina, 1843. 

X To show the value of ashes as the food of plants, and at the same time the difference between those 
made from different woods, I append the following analyses of those of two well-known southern trees. 
That of oak ashes is by Sprengel, that of pitch-pine ashes by Benhier : 



Constituents. 


Oak. 


Pitch-Pine. 


Constituents. 


Oak. 


Pitcli-Pine. 

14-10 
20-75 
3-45 
0-90 

17 -.50 




29-95 

\ 8 14 

17-38 
1-44 


7-50 

11-10 
2-75 

13-60 
4-35 


Potash 

Soda 


16-20 
C-73 
3-:i6 
1-92 
2-41 

15-47 




Oxide of Iron 

Oxide of Manganese 
Lime 


Sulphuric Acid 

Phosphoric Acid 


Carbonic Acid 





II This fact I consider an important hint to the planters of the tide-water zone, and it is to be hoped that 
it is one which will not be thrown away. Leached ashes are valuable also on every other class of lands. 
The southern portion of my farm (lying on Chemung rocks') is silicious. The northern pan is covered 
with " northern drift," and is therefore calcareous. I use from 3,.500 to 4,000 bushels of leached ashes per 
annum, without any discriminatiGn as regards the soil, and on almost every variety of crops, and invariably 
with marked advantage. Doct. Emmons, our State Geologist, having in charge the volumes on Agriculture, 
stated to me that he considered these leached ashes far more valuable by bulk than a rich marl (accessible 
to me) containing 90 ])er cent of carbonate of lime. 

§ This word ("reclaim") has a provincial signification throughout the North, when applied to land. It 
means " to render productive." Unlike the words " fertilize," " enrich." etc., it implies dtgree, as well as 
manner. To "reclaim "land, therefore, is to fertilize or enrich it to such a deeree that it will yield fair 
crops. I shall use the word both as a verb and a noun, to avoid the circumlocution otherwise necessary 
to express this idea. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



whole Tertiary formation, or at least that portion of it extending through 
the Atlantic States. The second is the swamp mud, which, rich with the 
alluvial deposition of ages, fills nearly every depression of the surface ca 
pable of retaining water, in the whole tide-water zone. 

Mr. Ruffin recommends the former as the best and most attainable fe?"- 
tilizer on both of the classes of soils under examination. He seems t;o 
think it adequate, of itself, to their full and permanent amelioration, I do 
not desire a word which I shall say to bear, or even seem to bear, a con- 
troversial tone toward the views of this ardent and enlightened friend of 
Southern Agriculture. In expressing my dissent from them, my limits 
and the occasion only permit me to allude to a few well-settled principles 
and facts on which I have based my opinions. Lime acts mechanically 
and chemically on soils. It stiffens loose and opens clayey ones. It is, 
to a certain extent, one of the necessary constituents of plants ; it neutral- 
izes acid substances in the soil ; it forms compoimds, and promotes the 
dissolution of existing ones, to prepare suitable food for plants ; and some- 
times produces certain other minor beneficial effects. But its great, its 
chief object, is to produce the food of plants by its chemical action on the 
organic matter in the soil. Hence, says Johnston : 

" Lime has little or no effect upon soils in which organic matter is deficient;" and he far- 
ther says : " Under the influence of lime the organic matter disappears more rapidly than it 
otherwise would do, and that after it has thus disappeared, fresh additions of lime produce 
no farther good effect ; . . . it causes the organic matter itself ultimately to disappear." 

" It is scarcely practicable," says Brown, ' to restore fertility to land even of the best 
natm-al quality, which has been thus abused ; and thin moorish soils, after being exhausted 
by lime, are not to be restored." 

" An overdose of shell marl," says Lord Kaimes, " laid perhaps an inch thick, produces 
for a time large crops, but at last renders the soil capable of bearing neither corn (grain) nor 
grass, of wliich there ai'e many examples in Scotland." " The same," continues Johnston, 
" is true of lime in any fonn. The increased fertility continues as long as there remains aa 
adequate supply .of organic (animal and vegetable) matter in the soil ; but as that disappears, 
the crops every year diminish botli in quantity and in quality." 

" On poor arable lands, which are not naturally so, but which are worn out or exhausted 
by repeated liming and cropping, lime produces no good whatever." (Anderson, Brown, 
Morton.)* 

Let us now turn to the opinions of some of the most eminent European 
Continental writers. The celebrated Thaer in his " Principles of Agricul- 
ture " (Section IV. Part I.) says : 

" On no soils are the effects of lime so beneficial as on those which contain a great quan.> 
tity of sour humus prejudicial to vegetation, or on those w*liich have been supplied more or 
less abundantly with animal manure for a considerable period, without receiving an appli- 
cation of lime, or some other substance of a similar natm'e. In the latter case it is frequently 
much more efficacious than an amelioration of stable manure would be ; but it soon impov- 
erishes the soil so much that in a few years it becomes indispensably necessary to manure it 
abundantly with rich animal or vegetable matters. As some portion of the humus, al- 
though in all probability of an insoluI)le nature, always remains in arable land even when it 
appears to be much exhausted, it of course follows that an application of lime will always 
be productive of very marked effects even on the poorest soils, because it will call into ac- 
tion all the nutritive particles which they contain. A second amendment of a similar nature 
bestowed shortly after the first, will be productive of some, although in general of much less 
benefit ; and the effect of each subsequent amelioration of this nature will be progi-essively 
diminished unless the soil receives an additional supply of humus. . . . The effect pro- 
duced by lime on land of this nature (reclaimed bogs and marshes) is much more beneficial 
and durable than that of any other manure. On the other hand, repeated ameliorations of 
lime will soon totally exhaust and impoverish poor and sandy soils, and reduce them to ab- 
solute sterility, even though each separate application seems to be productive of some good 
effect . . . McUiy persons who have not rightly comprehended the cause of the effects* 
produced by lime, prefer it to maiun-e, and have believed in the possibility of doing entirely 
without the latter ; but the total exhaustion of the soil wliich such a course of proceeding 
must sooner or later produce, caused them to fly to the opposite extreme. . . . An en« 

* See Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 139-143. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 69 

lightened and scientific agi'iculturist will soon perceive that the use of lime can never super 
sede that of dung, but that it renders this kind of manure more energetic in its action. . . . 

In many places where its ameliorating effects were knovra and appreciated, many agi'icul- 
turists have calculated that marl would prove a cheaper manure than stable dung ; and 
have, consequently, detei-mined to do without the latter altogether ; and, therefore, have 
diminished their stock of catde, and sokl their hay and straw. It may easily be imagined 
that as soon as the chemical effects of the marl ceased to operate, as must be the case when 
the land no longer contained undecomposed or insoluble substances, the soil became sterile, 
and a second marling was mcapable of producing any beneficial effects, there being no hu- 
mus for it to act upon." 

Petzholdt, in his " Lectures to Farmers on Agricultural Chemistry," 
(Lecture X VIL) says : 

" Quick -lime gi-eatly accelerates the decomposition of humus, whether of animal or vege 
table origin, inducing a more speedy liberation of its salts than would otherwise take place. 
This is the reason quick-lime has proved so advantageous in the cultivation of bogs ; the 
lime not oidy accelerates the decomposition of the humus, but it may be said altogether to 
be the cause of the decay of humus, which, as it exists in peat, is scarcely by itself under- 
going the process at all. . . . Where there is neither humus in the sod, nor undecom- 
posed silicates, the application of lime as manure will be useless. ... So much, hov^r. 
ever, is deducible from ail experience, that the mere application of marl to an exhausted soil 
is of no use whatever, unless it is carried on the field in such quantities as to constitute a 
new soil, covering the whole surface to the depth of a foot. ... In a chemical point of 
view, marl is not of any value except where the soil requires a supply of lime. . . The 
other mineral constituents of mai'l are far too inconsiderable ui amount to be reckoned upon." 

Chaptal, in his " Chemistry applied to Agriculture," (Chap, iii,, Art. 2,) 
thus expresses himself : 

" It is acknowledged that lime is principally useful upon fallow lands which are broken 
up; upon gi-ass lands, whether natural or artiiicial, which are prepared for cultivation: and 
upon muddy lands, which are to be put into a fit state for culture. It is well known that in 
all these cases there exists in the land a gi'eater or less quantity of roots, which, by the ap- 
plication of lime, may be made to serve more immediately for manure, by the solubility it 
wiU give to the new products formed by them. . . . Independently of this effect, which, 
in my opuiion, is the most important, lime exercises other powers, which make it a very 
valuable agent in Agiicultm-e." 

These authorities might be multiplied ad injinitum. 

On the alternately too loose or too hard soils of the dry and barren lands 
of the tide-water zone, lime would doubtless have two salutary effects — 
the mechanical one already noticed, and it would furnish one necessary 
food of plants. But of its power to render these soils, or the exhausted 
ones of the middle zone, anything more than transiently fertile, there is no 
jirobability, if they are, as I suppose them to be, generally rather, and 
sometimes very, destitute of organic matter. This destitution I infer from 
ocular examination ;* also from the fact that they are covered with little 
vegetation, with the exception of the long-leaf pine, to produce by its an- 
nual decay a store of organic matter; and, finally, if this organic matter 
existed in these soils in any considerable quantity, they uwuld not be ster- 
ile. They probably possess the ordinary inorganic constituents of dry 
Tertiary and granitic soils, and no properties directly deleterious to vege- 
tation. Organic matter, then, in my judgment, is what they princijmlly 
stand in need of to render them fertile. Now, by applying lime to them, 
it would undoubtedly do good in two ways, as before admitted ; but the 
considerable temporary apparent amelioration, as evinced in some instances 
by the increased growth of vegetation, is factitious, for the lime is only act- 
ing with and exhausting the little organic matter in the soil, to leave it to 
greater eventual sterility. Hence the saying that " lime enriches the father 
but impoverishes the son," is a true one when the lime is applied to soils 
possessing but a small proportion of organic matter. On such, lime soon 

* I have seen no analyses of these soils, and mean therefore as I say, simply, examination by the eye. 



70 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

leads to exhaustion, unless organic matter is added to tlie soil in proportion 
to the ivaste. The theoretical and. practical considerations which should 
govern in the application of this fertilizer to soils are discussed more fully 
and, in my judgment, more ably by Johnston, in his Agricultural Chem- 
istry, than by any other writer. To him I take the liberty to refer you. 

Marl raised from pits, as it must necessarily be (except when denuded, 
or cut through, on the beds of streams, &c.) where it occurs only as an 
under-stratum in a flat country — where the pits, too, often require ma- 
chinery, or much manual labor, to keep them free from water while work- 
ing — must be an expensive manure. From its tendency to sink in the soil 
it is not so permanent a one as would naturally be expected. On reclaimed 
swamp lands — as, for example, on the rice lands — abounding in vegetable 
matter, it will be found a most efficacious manure, and, when needed, will 
repay the necessary outlay ; but I fear it will be found otherwise ultimate- 
ly, if not immediately, on the barren sands and exhausted granite soils of 
the South. Applied with swamp mud, it would constitute a fertilizer 
scarcely, perhaps, admitting of a superior, even on the latter soils. In 
their single effects, however, I cannot but believe that the best swamp mud 
— that which is black and fetid by the long continued accumulation of or- 
ganic substances (and especially if charged with shells, and the shields of 
Infusoria) — would be worth more per load than the richest marl. The 
mud, too, should be considerably cheaper than the marl, no deep excava- 
tions being required to obtain it.* Digging and draught, and, in the case 
of the mud, draught alone, would render both decidedly expensive ma- 
nures, relatively to the value of the land after being ameliorated by them, 
even assuming that amelioration to be complete and permanent. On lands 
immediately contiguous to conveniently reached depositions of mud or 
marl, on a scale so limited that it could be earned on at spare intervals 
without encroaching on the regular routine of plantation labor, it might 
be good economy to haul out mud and marl, and thus gradually reclaim 
email pieces of land.t It certainly would be better economy than to waste 
those intervals in idleness. But in anything like an extended and speedy 
system of reclamation — the fertilization of thirty, forty or fifty acres per 
annum, instead of one, two or three — the means above adverted to are, in 
my humble judgment, utterly out of the question. The labor would ab- 
sorb all the labor of man and beast on the plantation ; and it is exceedingly 
questionable, in my mind, whether the land, when fertilized, would sell for 
the cost of the manure. 

Hard would it be for many a South Carolinian or Virginian to turn his 
back on the Lares and Penates of his race — forgetting many a proud local 
and ancestral association — but as a question of dollars and cents, some- 
times a necessary one, and, at all events, usually the paramount one, I 
think it past a reasonable doubt that it would be better economy to de- 
sert the worn-out or naturally barren soils of our South-eastern coast, and. 
purchase the vii'gin and fertile lands of the South-west (even including 
the extra expense of building and fencing), than to attempt to reclaim the 
former by means so expensive as those above indicated. 

What, then, is the resort 1 Are there any means by which those lands 
can be profitahhj reclaimed ] I answer. Yes ; and the resort is a mixed 
system of green and animal manuring — the latter made attainable by sheep 
husbandry. Experience is the best test of all theories. And we have had 

* I am inclined to think, Viowever, that this mud, if spread directly on the surface, would contaminate 
the atmosphere with unhealthy miasma, generating agues and bilious diseases. If so, it would require in- 
corporation with the soil, by plowinc. 

t It seems to me, however, that these expensive manures would be more profitably applied in keeping 
up the fertility of the best lands, or as assistants to other and cheaper means of reclaiming the poor ones. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 71 

80 little expei-ience in the premises, in our own country, let us turn to that 
of the first agricultural nation of the Old World. There is no foreign na- 
tion where so high a degree of intelligence is brought to bear on farming 
operations — where cause and effect are so carefully studied and accurately 
noted — as in England. This care and accuracy are indispensably neces- 
sary in a country where high rent and heavy taxation render good farmino- 
or bankruptcy unavoidable counter-alternations to the agriculturist. Pre- 
vailing conclusions among such a class of agriculturists — umhsjmted con- 
clusions, too — are assuredly entitled to great respect, and may almost be 
regarded as settled facts. Now the farmers of England are perfectly fa- 
miliar with every kind of manure accessible to our Southern farmers, un- 
less it be swamp mud and cotton seed. Lime, for example, is plentiful 
and cheap, and is much used in Agriculture all over the kingdom. If 
either this, or any of the manures of commerce, were considered, of them- 
selves, economical fertilizers of the poor, sandy or light upland soils of 
England, there is no country in the world where they are more plentiful, 
and, when the use of the soil and the price of products are taken into con- 
sideration, more cheap. 

What the settled conclusions of the English farmers are, in relation to 
the profitable amelioration of those soils, will be seen from the following 
undisputed testimony of some of the most eminent and respectable of them, 
taken before the Committee of the House of Lords, charged with the in- 
quiry into the state of the wool trade, &c. in Great Britain, in 1828, from 
which I have so freely quoted in preceding Letters. 

Mr. William PiNKNEY, jSaii^Jwry P/ai«.* Land such as I occupy could not be main- 
tained without the aid of sheep. . . . The sheep are our principal dependence for sup* 
porting our crops ; indeed, I could not occupy my farm without my flock. 

Mr. .ToHN Ellman, Jr., Sussex : I do not consider it possible for the light lands upon 
the Downs to be kept in cultivation without flocks. I could not keep the fann I now hold, 
without sheep. . . On the South Downs the wool must be giown, let the price be 

what it will. 

Mr. Francis Hale, Alringham, Svjfolle : The description of lard I occupy could not be 
kept in cultivation without the aid of sheep. 

Mr. Henry King, Chilmark, Wiltshire : The size of my farm is about 4,000 acres. I 
clip annually about 6,500 South-Down sheep. . . . Such lands as I occujiy cannot be 
kept in cultivation without the aid of sheep. 

Mr. John Woolledge, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk: An estate near the above 
place contains 8,890 acres, let to tenants, and consists principally of poor sandy and gi-avelly 
land, the produce of which in giain is very precarious, amounting in dry summers to little 
or nothing. The occupiers, therefore, depend almost entirely on their flocks of sheep for the 
payment of their rents and the employment and support of the population. ... I am 
of opinion that two-thirds of the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk may be comprehended in 
the sheep districts, and that they produce two pounds and a half of wool, and thi-ee-fourtha 
of a lamb, to the acre, upon an average. . . . The produce of the land depends materi- 
ally upon the folding system ; there is not sufficient straw for manure without the assistance 
of sheep. 

Mr. William Ilott, Abhey Milton, Dorsetshire : I calculate the annual growth of wool 
in Dorsetshire at 10,000 packs of 246 lbs. each. It is estimated . . . that 800,000 sheep, or 
one sheep and one-seventh per acre, . . . are kept in this county. A considerable part of 
the county of Dorset is composed of light lands, and can only be kept in tillage by the aid 
of sheep. 

C. C. Western, Esq. : It is utterly impossible that the Down Districts can be cultivated 
to advantage without sheep. We never fold our Merino or other sheep ; the land is too wet. 

Lord Napier : If we had not sheep upon our huids (the highlands of Scotland), it would 
become the habitation of foxes and snipes, and return to waste ; it would jiroduce nothing 
but grouse and wild game of different sorts. 

Is it asked, Why are sheep preferred to horned cattle ? Many of the 
reasons are given in my preceding Letter. Then, again, the scanty and 
short pasturage of light lands, on which sheep will thrive, will not afford 
sufficient " bite" (as it is provincially termed in the Northern States) to 



72 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

profitably carry large stock. And, finally, there seems to be a settled con- 
viction among tlie English farmers that sheep give a better return for the 
food consumed, and therefore better repay the extraordinary expenditure 
necessary to bring poor lands in a fit state for the pldw, than any other 
animal. In an able essay in the London " Plough" (June, 1846), the fol- 
lowing remarks occur, which may be probably regarded as an expression 
of the prevailing opinion in England : 

" It is justly admitted that, of all the domestic animals reared and fed for profit in Great 
Britain, sheep are of the greatest consequence, both individually and in a national point of 
view, and afford a better return than can be obtained either fiom the rearing or feeding of 
cattle ; the very Heece sliorn annually from their backs is worthy of consideration. . . . 
Sheep husbandry deserves to be esteemed in all its different branches, and claims the prior- 
ity of consideration among agriculturists."* 

The manner in which the " very fleece" is here spoken of, shows that 
wool occupies but a mere subsidiary place in making up the profits of 
English sheep husbandry. I know many intelligent and experienced farm- 
ers in this coimtrij who think sheep feeding more profitable, or equally 
profitable, with cattle feeding, leaving the wool out of the account.t 

The experience of the English farmers accords with that of those of our 
own Northern and Eastern States, in relation to the superior advantages 
of sheep husbandry on poor and light soils. Observation has shown both 
that such soils do not profitably carry bullocks or other large animals, and 
that such animals are poorer manurers than sheep. But their methods of 
availing themselves of the advantages of this husbandry are entirely dis- 
similar. The English farmer finds mutton and grain the marketable pro- 
ducts which pay best. The first returns a profit on the crop (turnips) 
which produces it, and at the same time fits the land for the latter. The 
high price and ready sale of mutton allows the English farmer to force the 
growth of turnips on poor soils, by the application of highly condensed 
maiuires.| In the fall the sheep are turned upon small patches of them, 
surrounded by an inclosure of hurdles. The turnips are drawn, sliced, and 
laid in troughs for the sheep. When one patch is consumed, the hurdles 
are removed, and thus the field is gradually passed over — the sheep con- 
verting the whole crop into animal products and manure. The land ia 
then plowed for grain, and a succession of crops are taken from it. By 
this means the land is soon reduced to its former level, and the same sys- 
tem is again entered upon. 

* After reading this and the preceding testimony, one cannot look back without a smile on the unac- 
countable monomania of that excellent man and public benefactor, Col. John Taylor, in relation to sheep. 
In one of the essays of " Arator," he says : 

" My conclusions are that they require and consume far more food, in proportion to their size, than any 
other stock ; that they are more liable to disease and death ; and that they cannot be made a protitahle ob- 
ject throughout the whole extent of the warm, dry climate and sandy soil of the United States, but by ban- 
ishing tillage from vast tracts of country." . . . '• It is probable that the hot constitution of sheep pro- 
duces a rapid digestion, and that insatiable appetite, by which the fact is accounted for of their flourishing 
only, to any extent, in tine meadows or extensive wildernesses. If this voraciousness is not gratified, the 
animal perishes or dwindles ; if it is. he depopulates the country he inhabits. The sheep of Spain have 
kept out of existence, or sent out of it, more people than the wild beasts of the earth have destroyed from 
the creation ; and those of England may have caused a greater depopulation than all her extravagant wars. 
It may be owing to this animal, the independence of one coimtry is almost overthrown, and of the other 
tottering." (!!!) He farther expresses the opinion that Kngland, " by the help of her moisture and verdure, 
can raise wool cheaper than the United .States." (!) 

It would appear that Col. Taylor formed all his conclusions on a small flock kept by himself They may 
have been a bad and unthrifty flock. But it is strongly probable that he was influenced by deep-rooted 
prejudices, imbibed before his judgment was ripened, or his experience formed ; and that these, unknown 
to himself, warped all his views. I can account in no other way for the evident and palpable hallucination 
under which he made nearly every statement in his Chapter on Sheep. 

t A gentleman who has been one of the most successful feeders of cattle and sheep in this State (P. N. 
Rtist, Esq. of Syracuse) recently remarked to me in conversation that he had invariably found that sheep 
paid better for feeding than cattle. 

X Bone-dust, and frequently guano or some other manure with it, is drilled in with the turnip seed, so 
that much cost is obviated by makim; a little go a great ways ; and there ia a remarkable congeniality in 
the climate and atmosphere of England to the growth of tliis root. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 73 

In the United States, much of this system would be inapphcable and 
unprofitable. Here wool, instead of mutton, is the principal object. Even 
in the Southern States, where the climate would render the English sys- 
tem practicable, the expense of producing either of these articles, by win- 
ter turnip feeding and folding, would add so much to its cost that it could 
not profitably compete with that grown in the ordinary manner. Tlie 
same remark applies to the relative expense of the two systems of manur- 
ing, A constant repletion of rich succulent food, like turnips, would sen- 
sibly increase the amount of manure, and, by folding, it would be more 
evenly distributed. But neither of these considerations would begin to 
offset against the increased expense, in a country where good lands are so 
cheap and bread-stuffs so low. Besides, no good, but, on the other hand, 
positive injury, would result from thus annuallj fattefiing "store"* sheep, 
kept for the production of wool and for breeding.t 

The system of improving poor lands in the Northern and Eastern States 
by sheep husbandry, is mainly by summer pasturage. The droppings of 
the sheep gradually enrich them,| and consequently increase their herb- 
age. Thus, in a few years, poor and scanty pastures are converted into 
rich, productive ones. This might be far more rapidly done by giving 
these pastures also the winter manure of the sheep, made in the feeding 
yards. But it is generally thought more profitable to give the winter ma- 
nure to the richer tillage lands, which are made to supply the grain and 
hay of the farm. The light pasture lands are thus kept permanently in 
pasture, or are only plowed, by the provident, at very long intervals. This 
system is rendered necessary, or, at all events, convenient, by the topo- 
graphical features of our farms. Here the poorer and lighter are generally 
the higher and more broken lands, which are less convenient of aration, 
and for the hauling on of manure, or the hauling off of crops. 

In the Southern States, on lands which now yield even a smallish sup- 
ply of esculent grasses, the northern system is all that is ncccsnarily re- 
quired. Those grasses will every year increase, and the land will be grad- 
ually fertilized, by the droppings of the sheep, without a cent's expendi- 
ture on it of any kind ; and every particle of herbage will be turned to its 
most profitable account, by being converted into wool, mutton and ma- 
nure. 

But where there is not sufficient existing verdure to form the germ, so 
to speak, of a future good pasture — or, in other words, to support a suffi- 
cient number of sheep to convert it, within a reasonable time, into good 
pasturage — some other course must be adopted. Proper plowing and 
seeding, simply, will, I have not a doubt, be found adequate in a great 
many instances where it would hardly be suspected. It is very natural to 
take it for granted that a soil, not spontaneously producing the grasses, is 
not fertile enough to produce them, even if properly sown upon it. But 
experience has amply demonstrated the contrary in several of the North- 
western States. There are various causes, besides a want of fertility, 
which may produce such nudity ; but this is not the place to enter upon 
speculations on this topic. Two very common and obvious causes are too 
great looseness or compactness of the surface, which prevents seeds from 
taking root, especially in a dry, hot climate. Plowing would always loosen 



* This convenient word is provincially applied, in the Northern and Eastern States, to sheep and swine 
which are to be kept over the year, to breed from (and the former to produce wool), as contradistinguished 
from those which are fattening for slaughter. 

t This point will again be adverted to. It is sufficient now to say that breeding-ewes, if brought to a high 
state of fatness, raise fewer lambs. The lambs are bom weak, and are very apt to perish. There are alse 
other objections. 

\ Aided by an occasional top-dressing with gy])sura. 

K 



74 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

hard, and frequently stiffen loose surfaces.* The grass seed han'owed into 
a properly prejiared soil, at the suitable season of the year, might so root 
itself as to withstand tlie subsequent heats, while those dropped on a hard 
or a loose surface by birds, or borne there by winds, would be exposed 
directly to the rays of the sun, which, if it did not entirely prevent germ- 
ination, would dry up and kill the tender roots before they could strike 
deep enough to resist its influence. Much will depend, in this experi- 
ment, upon a proper selection of the variety of grass sown. That variety 
should be sown which is found to flourish best on similar soils, in the same 
climate, even though relatively it may be an inferior grass.! 

By means as cheap and attainable as these, I have not a doubt that no 
inconsideiable portions of the nearly naked soils of the tide-Wc.ter zone 
might be brought into pasture sufficiently good to make their ultimate con- 
version into prime pastures, by means of sheep husoandiy, certain.' 

On the worn-out granite soils of the middle region, the once fertile red 
clay lands — now occupied only by dwarf pines, worthless broom-grass, etc. 
— deej) plowing and tliorough sowing (with the aid of steeps and the cheap 
top-dressing, before adverted to) would gcneralli/, I believe, bring these 
lands into pretty good pasture. These soils, having been subjected only 
to the one-horse plow, and hand tillage, are tvorn o^it only on the surface. 
This is proved, in innumerable instances, in Fairfax, and other northern 
counties of Virginia. Lands considered entirely worn out, and sold for a 
mere trifle, are subjected to the northern two-horse plow, and from one to 
three inches of earth, never before disturbed, is brought to the surface, 
which readily supports grass, and even grain crops — the latter tempora- 
rily. Thus, most fortunately, the means are still left, with the aid of pas- 
turage, to make many of these lands profitably productive, and to restore 
them to much of their former fertility. 

We come now to another class of lands which may, in many cases, be 
worth reclaiming, but which will not, by merely being plowed and sown, 
produce sufficient grass to make their fertilization by sheep husbandry at- 
tainable — or attainable within a moderate period of time. These are the 
inferior (but not the worst) sands of the tide-water zone. Here green 
manuring must be resorted to, by means of plants which will better with- 
stand the climatic and other difficulties in the way of their getting well- 
rooted, and wliich will flourish in poorer soils than the grasses. Both of 
these conditions are answered by various plants. Spurry ( Spergula arven- 
sisj and white Lupins ( Lujnnus albus) will flourish on dry, barren, and 
even shifting sands, and are extensively used as green manuring crops on 
such soils, on the Continent of Europe. From their rapid growth and ex- 
traordinary productiveness, they are admirably adapted to this end. The 
introduction of these plants would probably supply an important desidera- 
tum in Southern Agriculture, unless, as I have already expressed the opin- 
ion,| the pea leaves little to wish for, as a green manui-ing crop on every 
class of southern soils. Soaked in a solution of nitr« — rolled in lime — top- 
dressed, after sprouting, with a slight sprinkling of ashes and gypsum || — 



* The sands of thn tifle-water zone are cverywhrrn, at greatfir or less depths, underlaid by clay. These 
miijbt in Bome cases bo reached by the plow, and portions of them incorporated with the superincumbent 
Boil. 

t See Letter TH. t I" I-etter III. 

11 Spren^t'l's imalypis, in Letter III., shows the larixc amount of potash required for the seed, and of lime 
for the straw of the pea. The favorable efl'ect of plaster on this, as on most other leguminoste, is well 
known. Ashes, plaster and lime can be purchased here at an average of less than ten cents a bushel. A 
bushel of cypsum, mixed with say two bushels of ashes, makes a top-dressing which will ])ay for itself a 
number of "limfs over, on any land to which I have ever seen it applied. In addhion to rolling the seed ia 
lime, a few bushels of it, or of marl, would make a eood. and, where accessible and cheap, an economical 
top-dressing. When I speak of the price of lime here, I do not refer to marl. The latter, in its natural 
Btate, could be purchased at the beds for probably a shilling a load. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 75 

the pea would probably take root and flourish in any soil which the price 
of land in this country would justify an effort to render productive, now, 
or for a long term of years to come. Indeed, the capacity to produce this 
plant viay afford the best practical test of the economy and expediency of 
attempting it in any given case. If a good green manuring crop can be 
made to grow on the soil without any more expensive aids than those 
above suggested, the lever of improvement — cheap, but effectual — is placed 
in the hands of the planter, and, if he possesses the least degree of energy, 
he has no occasion to seek a new soil and home by emigration. 

Mr. Ruffin states, if I remember aright, that a few quarts per acre, of 
peas, are sown by the Southern planters. In the North, three bushels, at 
least, are sown; and this quantity would be little enough to pioduce the 
largest amount of green manure. 

Theory would indicate that the crop should be turned under before it 
comes into full flower,* but experience and convenience both deserve con- 
sulting in the premises. 

An active span of horses, with a Northern two-horse plow, and an ex- 
pert plowman, would readily plow two acres per diem, on sandy soils, and 
plow it well.t The expense of getting in a crop of peas can then be read- 
ily estimated. 

If one crop can be made to take root and grow, and is plowed under 
when green, the great point is attained, and there will be neither difficulty 
nor uncertainty subsequently. The organic matter thus deposited in the 
soil is the basis on which future improvements can be effected ad libitum. 
As far south as South Carolina, at least two, and probably three crops 
could be plowed in during a single season. This might be done in time 
for winter grain, and a crop of the latter sown as a covering crop with 
grass seeds. The grain would refund much of the previous expense. 

Plowing in two or three crops in succession may, at first view, seem an 
expensive process ; but, with the exception of the extra seeding, it is no 
more labor than is bestowed on every wheat crop by a large proportion of 
the farmers of Western New-York ! When the ground is summer fal- 
lowed, the ordinary practice on our wheat lands is to have it three times 
thoroughly plowed and harrowed, and the first time a crop of clover is 
plowed in. All this is a light outlay compared with thorough marling, or 
manuring with swamp mud. And, after either of the latter processes, the 
land has yet to be plowed and seeded.| 

It would not be necessary to plow in as many as three crops of peas, to 
lay the foundation of ordinary pasture. Two, and possibly one, would 
suffice. The comparative utility of forcing forward the fertilization of 
land, rapidly or gradually, depends much upon the amount of capital which 
the landholder has to devote to this object. The amount of labor subtract- 
ed from the ordinary operations of the plantation would be very small, in 
any case, in proportion to the object to be attained. A single expert 
plowman, with a good team, could give even the three plowings to a large 
field.ll 



* "Because flower-leaves," says Johnston, "give ofl^ nitrogen into the air; and, as this element is sup- 
posed especially to promote the growth of plants, it is desirable to retain as much of it in the plant and soil 
as possible." — Ag. Chem., vol. ii., p. IS-x 

t Perhaps more. That amount is frequently exceeded here, on stubble lands. 

J So that the expense to be otfsetted against one of those processes (in estimating their comparative 
economy as a means of reclamation with green manuring) is plowing, harrowing, and seeding twice. 

II I have attempted to fix no definite data on this point, because you, who are acquainted with plowing 
Southern lands, are better competent to do so. 1 would remark, in this connection, that my convictions 
are very strong that the introduction of the two-horse plow of the North would lead to a decided improve- 
ment in your Agriculture, from the superior manner in which it does its work, and by leading to deeper 
plowing. l"he wheel will cause it to run as shallow as a one-horse plow, however, where the character of 
the soil renders it desirable. 



76 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Even in the case of either of the two classes of soils before treated of 
(those now producing thinnish pasturage, or which can be converted into 
pastures simply by plowing and seeding), one or more green manuring 
crops would form a most excellent and accelerating initiatory step, and, 
where sufficient capital is possessed, I have no doubt, a most economical 
one, toward their fertilization. 

In view of all my preceding statements, do you ask me if I advocate 
sheep husbandry exclusively, on all the lands at the South which already 
are, or should be devoted to grazing] Most assuredly not. I have al- 
ready laid it down as a maxim that " agricultural production should be 
controlled by the demand or want, and the adaptation of the country to 
such production." By this rule, the South should, at least, never import a 
horse,* a mule, a pound of beef, pork, butter, cheese or wool. She wants 
them all, and she can produce them all mere economically than she can 
import them. That declared impossibility in politics, an imj)erium in im- 
perio, should be in Agriculture, so far as it may be consistently with the 
above maxim, the attitude of every farm and plantation. Each should be 
independent to the greatest economical extent, so far as the production of 
the necessaries, comforts and luxuries of life are concerned, of every other 
farm or plantation in the world ! This mixed and multifarious farming is 
objected to by theorists, inasmuch as it trenches on the division of labor 
principle. But it favors rotation, and thereby prevents the exhaustion of 
soils — leads to a more bountiful use of the every-day comforts of lifet — 
and, finally, it is less hazardous. The one-crop farmer, if crop and market 
are both in their most favorable state, realiaes great profits. But if the 
market is poor, or the crop small, the loss is proportionately large. The 
farmer pursuing mixed husbandry will not generally fall greatly behind 
the best profits of the other, and his losses are rarely considerable. It is 
better to play for a hit than a gammon, where, as in the case of the small 
capitalist, affluence or penury "stand the hazard of the die !" 

If the above positions are true, the South is called upon to increase the 
breeding of other domestic animals as well as sheep. To an extent suffi- 
cient to svpply Iter own wants, I consider her imperiously called upon so 
to do. I advocate the breeding of sheep specially — on a vastly more ex- 
tended scale — because, as has been already shown, they are the best (if 
not the only) reclaimers of your unproductive lands ; and because in that 
surplus of the products of gi'azing, which these extensive reclamations will 
biing about, tliey furnish you the exporting^ article (wool) for which you 
can find the largest extra-limital market, and in grotving which yon can best 
coinpete tvith other producers. 

Let us suppose, for the sake of the argument, that these newly reclaimed 
pasture lands would carry heavy beasts as well as sheep, and with equal 
benefit to the land. After supplying the home demand, what would be 
done with the surplus horses, mules and beeves 1 To what markets in the 
world could you export horses and mules, with the exception of some of 
the West India islands — the markets of which a few thousand head of 
these animals would annually glut \ Do you ask me what would prevent 
your sending your surplus beef to England 1 Nothing. But neither the 
South, nor the North, nor the East, can compete with the great North-west 

* Unless for the improvement of breeds. 

t I mean by this that the planter who raises all the necessaries of life will be more liberal of them than 
the one who purchases them. 

J 1 do not use the word here in its technical sense. I mean carried beyond mere local limits for sale — 
whether that sale be efiected in the same State, in some other part of the U. S., or abroad. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 77 

in producing beef (or pork*) for exportation to foreign countries. Its im- 
mense natural pastures — the profusion and cheapness with which Indian 
corn can be produced on its virgin soils — give it an advantage which in- 
creased transportation by no means counterbalances. The question then 
arises — Why, for the same i-easons, cannot the vast North-western plains 
produce wool more cheaply than the South, and undersell her in our own 
and the foreign markets 1 In the first place, the western pastures — that 
is to say, the wild or natural ones — which produce beef so cheaply, are, 
by reason of the coarseness and rankness of their verdure, not adapted to 
tJie growing of sheep. Secondly, the shortness and mildness of the south- 
ern winter give a decided advantage in w^ool growing, by affording green 
winter feed — an advantage not profitably available probably, on an extend- 
ed scale, with large grass-feeding animals. Again, in the North-west, 
though there is less snow, the winter is about as long, for all the practical 
purposes of 4iusbandry, as in New-York.t Killing frosts come as early in 
autumn ; the naked ground is frozen as solidly, and far more deeply ; and 
verdure puts forth but little if any earlier in the spring. The South then 
possesses the same great advantage with the North-Avest in the production 
of wool — clieajp lands / and, superadded to this, she has the short, mild 
winters, which give her a decided advantage over both the North and 
North-west. She has a marked advantage over the Northern and Eastern 
States in both jyarticulars, and, instead of importing manufactured wools 
fi'om them, she ©ught to supply them, by export, with at least the raw ma- 
terial. And she will do this at no distant day, unless her sons are content, 
in the great struggle and battle of industrial interests, to sacrifice their 
own by apathy or iiTesolution. 

* I have not alluded to the rearing of swine any more fully, as they are but partially a grazing animal. 
— But if the position assumed in the text be correct, it is another argument in favor of devoting your lands 
to the production of surplus wool, instead of surplus corn. 

+ The winter feeding of sheep in New York has already been stated to average about one hundred and 
fifty days. 



78 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER VII. 

PROFITS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.— 3. BY GIV- 
ING TO SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE A MIXED AND CONVERTIBLE CHAR- 
ACTER.— 4. BY FURNISHING THE RAW MATERIAL FOR THE MANUFAC- 
TURE OP DOMESTIC WOOLENS. 



Expediency of Rotation in Crops. . .Consequences of omitting it on Wheat Lands of New-York. . .Mr. Gay- 
lord's views.. .Consequences in the Southern States. . .Mr. Roper's Report in the Legislature of South 
Carolina — [Cotton Statistics of that State— Comparison with other States— General Agricultural Resources 
—necessity of new staples]. ..Judge Seabrook's Report to the State Agricultural Society of South Caro- 
lina— [Agricultural Statistics- Remedies proposed for present "distress"]. ..Singular omission of Wool as 
one of the proposed new Staples. . .Southern prejudice on this subject — Causes. . .Impropriety of the one- 
crop system — Diminishes crops — Deteriorates land — Multiphes insects. ..Fertility sustained by Rotation — 
Causes. .." Resting" — Its inexpediency. ..Some of the Crops of every Rotation must be converted mainly 
into Manure — Superior economy of converting them into Animal Manure — Sheep the most profitable ani- 
mals for this purpose. ..Leading principles of a profitable Southern Rotation— Six-shift Course proposed — 
Five-shift Course— Six-shift Course for poor soils- ..Col. Taylor's Four-shift Course— Objections- ..Com- 
parative profit of growing Wool, Cotton and Rice, incidentally alluded to. . .Economy of producing the ravf 
material for the Manufacture of Domestic Woolens. . .Cost of Slave Cloths per head per year. ..Prices now 
paid for these Cloths— Cost of manufacturing them — Data for estimating such cost. ..Great profits of Man- 
ufacturers in the Northern States— Their Dividends— Their method of exchanging Cloth for Wool— Work- 
ing Wool at the halves. ..Cost of Cloths obtained by these methods... The South may obtain the same ad- 
vantages — Natural Facilities — Cost of Machinery— On what terms worked — Operations. ..Cloths spun and 
wove by hand cheaper than the imported ones — Cost of the several processes of manufacturing them — 
Estimate of Cost per yard at the North.. .Cost of establishing Carding and Cloth-Dressing Machinery.-. 
Home-made Fabrics diminishing at the North— Causes.. .Same Causes will not operate to so great an ex- 
tent at the South — Reasons.. .Probable Cost of Home-made Cloths, South. 



Dear Sir : The third great benefit claimed by me among the profits of 
sheep husbandry in the Southern States was, " its comparative efficacy in 
giving to Southern Agi'iculture a mixed and convertible character, and 
thereby sustaining (or improving) all the present good tillage lands, in the 
place of continuing the " new and old field" system (tilling land until it is 
worn out, then abandoning it and opening new lands), once so general, 
and even now by far too prevalent." 

The first object of mixed husbandry has been ah'eady slated — the home 
supply of the various necessaries of life. Its second, and still more impor- 
tant one, is the preservation of existing fertility in all soils fit for tillage. — 
It certainly requires no proof or argument to demonstrate the superior ex- 
pediency of maintaining the fertility of soils, if it can be done, by a rota- 
tion of crops, even though each of these crops is not, separately considered, 
the one which would yield the greatest immediate profit. In the language 
of the hackneyed aphorism, it is never expedient to " kill the goose which 
lays golden eggs." 

This constant cropping with one plant was once extensively practiced 
on the wheat lands of New-York, as many of their present owners can 
bitterly attest. Even now there can be no doubt that, on nearly all of 
them, wheat returns too often in the rotation. These lands were once 
rapidly, and are still, I fear, slowly declining in value ; while the grazing 
lands of »Southem New-York, where men have been compelled to be more 
discreet, have been constantly improving and approximating to the foiTner 
in market value.* 



* This calls to mind a letter which I received from an old and valued correspondent, the late Willis Gay- 
lord, but a short time prior to his death. I had spoken of the advantages of his own, the vvheat reirion, 
over the grazing region in which I reside. Mr. G. combated this idea. He thought capital invested her* 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 79 

The same system has prevailed on the rice, tobacco, and cotton lands of 
the South, and has, for a variety of reasons not necessary here to be dis- 
cussed, been, in the case of the two latter at least, more fatally persisted 
in. I have already alluded to the exhaustion of your soils consequent on 
this course of culture, but to show the wide extent of the evil — its pecu- 
niary consequences individually, and on whole States — the now admitted 
necessity of a rotation of crops — the equally conceded necessity of intro- 
ducing some new staple, or staples, to render the other crops in the rota- 
tion, besides cotton, I'ice, and tobacco, remunerative — and various other con- 
siderations having a strong bearing on this whole question — I quote the 
following statements from Southern, as well as highly authoritative sources. 

The Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives of South 
Carolina, through their Chairman, Hon. R. W. Roper, made a Report to 
that body, Dec. 14, 1842, from which the following are extracts : 

" Let us now turn our consideration to one other great staple, cotton, of which the statis- 
tics are so exact that we can ascertain by calculation what our prospects are as regards com- 
petition in that article. The United States produce at present 578,012,473 lbs. — more than 
one-hall' the crop of the whole world. South Carolina grows of this 43,927,171 lbs., or 1-13 
part of the quantit}' ; but from this source of profit her palmy days are ])ast. Every year 
opens new lands in the West, where congeni;ility of soil and climate to this commodity in- 
creases the product per acre far beyond what can be reared at home, and consequently re- 
duces the value infinitely below the costly prices which fonnerly enriched Carolina. These 
new lands produce, on an average, 2,500 lbs. of cotton per hand, while the lauds in Carolina 
yield but 1,200 lbs., and the expenses of a laborer being about equal in either ])lace, reduces 
the Carolina cotton to h:ilf its intrinsic vdue. We have also the declaration of Mr. Dixon H. 
Lewis, in a recent speech in Congress, that cotton, divested of Government embarrassments, 
might be grown in Alabama for tln-ee cents a pound. 

"Your Committee will avail itself of the lucid calculations of a distinguished and talented 
individual,* to present another view of the subject, startling in its details, and bearing strong- 
ly on the propriety of summing up all our resources. The crop of the world ainounts to 
1,000,000,000 lbs., which would requii-e, at the rate of 250 lbs. per acre, 4,000,000 of acres 
to grow this quantity. Now, the four States bordering on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico — 
viz., Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — contain 130.000,000 of acres; proving 
that, if only one acre in 32 were found capable of producing 250 llis. to the acre, these four 
States could, alone, supply the demand of all the markets in the world. In this calculation, 
the produce of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, with portions of other 
States, besides 150,000,000 acres in Texas, are entirely excluded. The lands of the Gulf 
States, therefore, and Texas, are sufficient to supply the demands of the world in all time to 
come. Where, then, is the hope or prospect of South Carolina in the competition ? . . . 

" South Carolina comprises within her borders 16,000,000 acres of land, of which only 
1,300,000 are cultivated. Of this, cotton occupies 175,700 acres ; rice, 80,000 ; Indian com, 
500,000; potatoes, 22,612; wheat, 24,079 — making an aggi-egate of about 800,000 acres; the 
balance of 500,000 are taken up in oats, rye, barley, hay, tobacco, and a limited poition of 
other articles necessary to the supplies of life. To what use, then, is the balance of our ter- 



returned quite as good or better profits, than on the wheat lands. He thought, taken as a whole, the graz- 
ing farmers were doing better than the wheat fanners. The latter thouah ostensibly makint: an equal and 
frequently btHter per centage, were wasting their capital. The grazing lands and the wheat lands were rap- 
idly approaching each other in market value, by the rise of the former and the deterioration of tlie latter. 
May this not afford a parallel to what will one day be witnessed in the Southern States 1 

It is ditficult for me to pass by the name of this accomplished wiiter — this pure, upright and philanthropic 
man — without throwing one stone on the cairn of his well-merited fame. He felt himself, from his infancy, 
cut otf from the companionship of his kind, by disease and deformity ; but. notwithstanding the body was 
"ugly," he " carried a precious jewel in his head." Triumphing over constant physical sutferings which 
would have prostrated most men, he made attainments in general knowledge possessed by few of his con- 
temporaries. His range of reading and study was remarkable. In his beautiful and sparkling letters to 
me, every subject and almost every science is touched upon by him in a manner that shows tliat he at least 
had mastered their general principles ; and, in the abandon of private intercourse, they seem to have been 
to him as the flowerets of a garden, among which his spirit could roam with that playful and joyous activ- 
ity which was denied to his poor, frail body, among the objects of the outer and physical world. 

Freely, unassumingly, and without an aspiration hut for the good of his fellow men, his mind poured out 
its stores on a variety of topics in the publications of the day. Fortunately, he gave his principal attention 
to the subject of Agiiculture, and, if not a discoverer (which he never claimed to be), he investicated and 
collated with an industriousness of research, discrimination and perspicacity, which brought the truth from 
all the ditferent sources where discovery or experience had left its diajecta membra, into essays, so well com ■ 
pacted, so clearly arranged, that men of the most ordinary parts could not onlj' understand his separate sen- 
tences and positions, but their connection and aggregate bearing, and thus master the whole subject. Peace 
to his ashes 1 

* Gov. Hammond. 



80 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ritory, of 14,000,000 of acres, to be appropriated ? Are we forever to be supplied with stock 
from the ^Vest, bread-stuffs from the Middle States, and manufactures from the North ? Is 
aU that we can reahze from our labor to be expended abroad ? Nothuig to be left for our 
own improvements or our luxuiy ? As one means of correcting this evil, your Committee 
propose an Agricultural Survey of the State, to determine our natural advantages, develop 
our facilities of improvement, exhibit our profits and expenditm-es, and awaken our citizens 
to the importance of vying with the rest of the human family in all the improvements of 
which onr location is susceptible 

" The exposition wliich your Committee has given, showing the great competition of for- 
eign rice with our own, and that South Carolina cannot compete with the West in the cheap 
production of cotton, and tliat she must, ere long, be driven from the market, demonstrates 
the necessity of looking abroad and around us for other sources of advancement and profits 
than those we possess. 

" We cannot expect that accident is continually to supply new staples suited to our soil 
and climate, and place us beyond the reach of contingent circumstances. We must resort 
to science to improve our Agriculture, and to inachinery to enlarge and prepare present arti- 
cles of culture, or transplant and acclimate new products, which will again, like those we 
have lost and will lose, lead oft' for a period in the employment of capital, amassing of wealth 
and ditfusion of human happiness." 

The House and Senate agreed with the Report, the same day, and its 
principal recommendation, an Agricultural Survey of the State, was 
adopted. 

The Committee appointed by the South Carolina State Agricultural So- 
ciety to consider the scheme of Col. Davie to reduce the quantity of cotton 
grown, made a Report, through their Chairman, Judge Seabrook, at the 
winter meeting of the Society, 1845-6, from which the following are ex- 
tracts :* 

" Another cause of our disti-ess is that, in a large portion of the southern country, cotton is 
cultivated, when its production does not now, and never can, at all compensate the planter 
for the labor bestowed. There it is desirable for every one that other branches of industry 
should be pursued. . . . We do not intend to encourage tlie cultivation of cotton to the 
neglect of the other products necessary to support or comfort. Every planter should prompt- 
ly render himself independent in reference to those articles which could be produced on his 
plantation. In this way he would profitably curtail the quantity of land devoted to the cot- 
ton crop. An abandomnent of the j^resent extremely defective mode of culture, and the sub- 
stitution of a better, would insure a larger quantity of cotton than would be lost by diversify- 
ing the products of industry. In other words, his cotton crop would be larger ; his corfl. 
wheat, rice, oats, barley, horses, mules, hogs, cattle, sheep, butter and vegetables, would be 
the produce of his farm. 

" If, however, the cotton crop is to be given up one-half, after all the reductions of it which 
we have sanctioned, to what else can the planter of the South so profitably turn his attention ? 
To grain ? He already, in ordinary years, produces twice as much as the Middle States, and 
about one-eighth more than the West. In Indian com alone, the produce of the South, by 
her last census, wns 300 million bushels. If the planter of cotton is engaged in an unprofit- 
able business, much more is the grain raised. . . . Millions of acres in South Carolina, 
including the lower country, are admirably adapted to the raising of rich grasses. This 
might be added as another branch of industry, from which reasonable profits might be real- 
ized, and might very well be added to the cotton planter's income. The business of tanning 
and the raimufactures of leather might be and ought to be enlarged. In this State, all the 
means of a successful pursuit of this br;i,ni.-h of industiy are at hand and within the reach of 
every one. Hides, lime, bark and mechanics (slaves) are abundant." 

The remarks in both of the above extracts, though made exclusively in 
reference to South Carolina, will apply equally well, in many obvious par- 
ticulars, to all the old cotton and tobacco growing States. 

To a Northern man, accustomed from his childhood to see sheep hus- 
bandry blended, to a greater or less extent, in the operations of nearly 
everxj farm, and to live among farmers who regard it just as indispensable, 
and as much a matter of course, as the production of bread-stuffs, it seems 
singular enough that neither of the above able Committees, in looking for 

* As has been before stated, the other members of the Committee were Judge O'Neall and W. J. Allston, 
Esq. Mr. A. did not concur with his colleagues in the proposition that there was not already an absolute 
overproduction of cotton. He believed there was. In all other particulars, and consequently in all em- 
braced in the extracts given, he concurred in the Report. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 81 

"other sources of advancement" — "new products" — "other branches of 
industry " — both to bring into use milHons of acres of unproductive terri- 
tory " admirably adapted to the raising of rich grasses," and to render 
profitable and preserve the fertility of the tillage lands of the State, should 
not have thought of wool growing — or only thought of it, as it were, inci- 
dentally — at the very heel of a catalogue of farm products, and in refer- 
ence solely to supplying the home want ! 

Indeed, the estimate which has been set upon sheep husbandry gener- 
ally, and by all classes of agriculturists, South, is a source of unmixed sur- 
prise to one acquainted with this pursuit, and with the resources of that 
region for sustaining it. There appears among many, if I may credit your 
own writers,* to be even a jt;/-e;?^cZ/ce against sheep and sheep husbandry, 
per sc ! Is this because these animals bear a staple, and give employment 
to manufactories, which have claimed the "protection" of Government, to 
the prejudice, in the opinion of Southern politicians, of Southern interests ]t 
Is any portion of it due to the scornful denunciations of the brilliant, but 
eccentric and cynical, statesman of Roanoke, who " would at any time go 
out of his way to kick a sheep" 1 Or is it owing to the, in most respects, 
justly popular writings of Col. Taylor, of Virginia ] Hon. Andrew Ste- 
venson, of the same State, in a letter to John S. Skinner, Esq., says :| 

" The prejudice which the late Col. John Taylor, of CaroUne (who, by-the-by, did more 
for Agi-iculture than any man in America), had against sheep, has been the means of render- 
ing this description of stock unpopular in many parts of the southern country. ... If 
this distinguished patiiot and statesman had lived at tliis day, he would have changed hia 
opinion." 

The impropriety and inexpediency of giving all the labor and prime land 
of the country to the exclusive cultivation of one or two crops, even leav- 
ing the deterioration of the lands, consequent on such a course, out of the 
question, is forcibly set forth in the Reports above quoted from. But that 
deterioration is an infinitely more fatal evil, both to individuals and States. 
An injudicious course of cropping can be easily changed ; but, if the land 
is entirely impoverished, the change comes too late, until labor and capital 
have been employed on its restoration. The tendency, nay, the absolute 
connection as cause and (ffect, between the one-crop system and such dete- 
rioration, has been proved by too sad an experience at the South — is too 
universally recognized and conceded — to find a single questioner who pos- 
sesses ordinary intelligence. Whether the consequent phenomena are 
solved by the excretionary theory of De Candolle, or the more ordhiary 
one of the exhaustion of some of those substances which constitute the ne- 
cessary food of plants, the facts presented are the same.|| The soil yields 
constantly diminishing crops, until it becomes incapable of producing more 
than scattering and feeble plants ; and the insect enemies of the latter, 
which would perish if deprived of their aliment by the substitution of soma 
other plants, multiply in a constantly ascending ratio.§ 

* Hon. Andrew Stevenson, John S. Skinner, et at. in Monthly Journal of Aariculture, &c. 

t If such protection has prejudiced the South, what sti'onger reason why she should remunerate herself, 
by appropriating a share of it ! 

X Monthly Journal of Agriculture, July, 1845. 

II The theory of M. De Candolle, apparently so strongly supported by the experiments of M. Macaire, has 
found many believers. But the statements of the latter have been contradicted by M. Braconnet, M. Mlr- 
bel, and finally are totally overthrown, in my judgment, by the experiments and investigations of Mr. Alfred 
Gyde, of Scotland. Mr. Gyde shows that the minute excretions of plants have the same composition with 
their sap ; and he also watered plants with a solution of their excretions, not only without injury, but to 
their manifest benefit 1 For Mr. Gyde's able Prize Essay on this subject, see the Transactions of the High- 
land and Agricultural Society of Scotland (March, 1846). I am not aware that this essay has been repub- 
lished in our country. It certainly should be. 

§ Of the latter evil, the past year furnished a pregnant example. I saw it stated last winter, in the South 
Carolinian (published at Columbia, S. C), on the authority of an United States Senator, that the falling off 
in the cotton crop would be enormous, by reason of the depredation of worms. This evil is constantly in 
creasing, and must continue to, while the planter continues to provide aliment for each succeeding bordft^ 
of destroyers, by continuing on the soil the plants on which they prey. 

Li 



82 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Experience has shown that if vegetables of different classes are made to 
follow each other, the soil will much longer retain its productiveness. — 
Even when " exhausted" of some one or more of those ingredients neces- 
sary for the healthy production of a particular plant, it is found to produce 
otliers luxuriantly which do not require the lacking ingi-edients, or but very 
minute portions of them. And, by a most beautiful arrangement of phys- 
ical causes and effects, when a plant is removed fiom the soil, and notwith- 
standing its place is occupied by others, a process of restoration at once 
commences to replace all that the absent phmt has appropnated, and to 
prepare the kindly bosom of the earth again for its reception. Nature 
herself, in ministering to this beneficent end, becomes a great laboratory ; 
and in her most ordinary, as well as her most unusual operations, she is 
constantly ])roducing those chemical changes, and furnishing those chem- 
ical ingredients, which restore what has been abstracted by man's cupid- 
ity, or lost by his improvidence. The gentle rain brings down ammonia 
and carbon to plants. The frost rives the solid rocks, to disengage their 
fertilizing constituents. The sun, in his flaming path, looks down not only 
to warm and give us light, but to perform functions in the vegetable econ- 
omy without which all hei-bage, except a few miserable fungi, would per- 
ish ; and to all he imparts their varied and beautiful coloring. The thun- 
der which shakes the walls of cities, and strikes inan with awe, brings to 
our aid one of the most efficient promoters of vegetation. Even the burst- 
ing volcano converts its fiery crater into a crucible and retort, and gives 
off that gas which forms so large a portion of all the vegetable and animal 
productions of the globe : and the wild winds, which strand navies in their 
course, equally diffuse it over the earth. 

It follows from the above positions that naturally good lands* which are 
more or less exhausted, will be gradually resuscitated by "rest," or an en- 
tire exemption from tillage ; and hence the absurd idea that lands require 
physical " rest," in the same sense in which the tired animal muscle re- 
quires it, after continuous exertion. But, apart from the theory, the prac- 
tice of "resting'^ lands is inexpedient, for the following reasons: If a 
plant is not continued on a soil until it consumes any of those inorganic 
constituents necessary to its production — if, on the other hand, it is suc- 
ceeded by a plant which makes its heaviest drafts on those inorganic sub- 
stances whicli its predecessor required the least of, and vice versa — the 
natm-al recuperative process above adverted to, aided hy means wJiicJi lose 
to us none of tJic value of the crops, will repair the waste made by each 
plant, before it again occupies the soil, in a judicious rotation. Hence, by 
a rotation of crops, fertility can be indefinitely sustained, and the earth 
each year return its inci-ease. Thus the ends of "rest" are attained, with- 
out its great and unpi'ofitable sacrifices. 

To sustain the fertility of the soil, some portion of the crops of every 
rotation must be converted into manure. These are the "aiding means" 
above alluded to. They may be converted into green or animal manure. 
If the former, the Avhole crop is plowed under. If the latter, the crop is 
first partly converted into animal manure, by animals depastured on it, and 
then this animal manure, with the remaining vegetation, is plowed under. 
The last is always the most economical method, on good lands,f becau-se 
the crop is woith almost as much for manure, after 2)assing through the 



* I 8By "nnturflUy gnoA Innds," for those entirply deficient in several of the necessary constituents of a 
icnile soil might it-quiro ages of rest to obtain these constituents — if, indeed, they ever would, by merely 
natural causes. 

t I have limited the assertion to " srood lands," because a crop of green manure, turned under at the 

E roper stau;e of its inowili, will undoubtedly make rather more manuie than in any other way ; and it may 
e expedient many times to give poor lands all. This i» especially true in the reclamation of barren lands. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



83 



bodies of afiimals, as it would be turned under green ; and then we have 
all the profit made on or by the animals — meat, wool, &c. — without any 
additional cost. Sheep, being the best manurers, and otherwise the most 
profitable animals, will (with enough other animals to supply all the home 
demand for the necessaries furnished by them) best sustain a profitable ro- 
tation. 

Here, perhaps, the discussion of this topic in connection with the sub- 
ject matter of these letters should terminate ; but I am unwilling to aban- 
don it, without making a few practical suggestions as to the rotation which 
would be found most profitable at the South — more particularly on the 
valuable cotton lands, which are suffering most for the want of it. It is 
manifestly impossible to lay down any rule or rules on this subject, which 
can or should be rigidly acted upon, in all instances. Leading principles 
can only be declared, and, if correct, the intelligent man can always vary 
their application so as to meet the exigencies of his particular case. 

First, I should consider it indispensable on all cotton (or tobacco) lands,* 
under all cii'cumstances, to keep at least one-third of them in pasturage, to 
insure the proper amount of inanure, over and above cotton seed, and 
such occasional supplies of swamp mud and marl as might be obtained at 
spare intervals — and all other incidental manures. Another third, 1 be- 
lieve, should be generally devoted to grain for bread stuffs, for fattening 
the necessary amount of bacon, and for the winter forage of horses, mules, 
swine, &c. Unless the horses and mules, and, perhaps I should add, the 
cows, were wintered entirely, or in great part, on grain and the offal of 
the grain crops, one-third of the cultivated laud in grass, would not support 
animals enough to produce the manure requisite for two-thirds in cotton 
and grain. But in making the above division, I spoke only of the arable 
lands fit for the growth of cotton. Most plantations have poor, or swampy, 
or rough lands, which would most profitably be kept permanently in grass, 
and these would supply the deficit. The remaining third of the arable 
lands might be devoted to cotton, or, in tlie tobacco region, to tobacco. 

By the course above proposed, the cotton (or tobacco) and wool would 
be made the salable products. The grain, grass, dairy products, bacon, 
&c., would be consumed on the plantation. This is as it should be. Eu- 
ropean famine has given a stir to the latter products this year, (and it may 
for a year more,) in the Southern markets ; but with the ordinary Euro- 
pean demand, the old Southern Atlantic States cannot, as we have seen, 
compete at a profit with these commodities, which debouch through the 
Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the northern canals. With the trvo 
wools, as they are sometimes called, the " vegetable and animal," these 
States can undoubtedly sustain themselves against the pressure of any out- 
ward competition. 

Such a division of crops as the one above proposed, could be effected 
by a six-course system of rotation. Let us suppose the land of the planta- 
tion fit to grow corn and cotton, divided into six equal fields. I then pro* 
pose the following rotation : 



1st year, Cotton. 

2d .. Cotton with yard ma- 
nure, &c. 

3d .. Corn with peas. 

4th . . Small grains with grasa 
seed. 

.5th . . Grass d^astured. 

6th .. da. do. 



1st year, Grass depastured. 



1st year. Grass depastured. 



2d . 


do. do. 


2d . 


. Cotton. 


3d . 


Cotton. 


3d . 


. Cotton with yard ma- 


4th .. 


Cotton w^ith yard ma- 




nure, &c. 




nure, &c. 


4th . 


. Corn with peas. 


5th . 


Corn with peas. 


5th . 


. Small grains with grass 


6th . 


Small grains with ^ass 




seed. 




seed. 


fith . 


. Grass depastured. 



* I have nnt included the rice lands, because beinsf deep beds of alluvial deposits, composed in a great 
measure of organic matter, and being susceptible of irrigation, they will not wear out like oi'dinarv soils, 
and stand leas in need of rotation in their crops. 



84 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



let year 


Cotton with yard ma- 


1st year, Corn with peas. 


1st year 


Smallgrainswith grass 




nure, &c. 


2d .. Smallgraius with grass 




seed. 


2d .. 


Corn with pea.s. 


seeds. 


2d .. 


Grass depastured. 


3d .. 


Small grains with grass 


3d .. Grass depastured. 


3d .. 


do. do. 




seed. 


4th .. do. do. 


4th .. 


Cotton. 


4th .. 


Grass depastured. 


.•ilh .. Cotton. 


5th .. 


Cotton with yard ma- 


5th .. 


do. do. 


6lh .. Cotton with yard ma- 




nure, &c. 


6th .. 


Cotton. 


nure, &c. 


6th .. 


Com with peas. 



Supposing each of these fields to contahi 50 acres, this would give 100 
acres of gi-ass, 100 of cotton, and 100 of grain (50 of corn and 50 of small 
grains) annually. 

By this course all the hauled* manui'e, each year, would be given to 
one-sixth of the land, and consequently the same field would not receive 
it but once in six years — yet every' crop would be adequately manured. 
The first cotton crop would receive an ample amount fi-om the grass roots 
and the droppings of animals for two years ; the second, from the hauled 
manure ; the corn, fi-om the manure left by the previous crop, and, if 
needed, by a small amount of cotton seed, ashes, (or some other mineral 
fertilizer,) in the hill ; the small grain crop would be amply manured by 
the peas sown with the preceding com ; and the land would go back into 
grass in excellent " heart," and, if the previous tillage was what it should 
be, entii'ely free from weeds. The corn might intervene between the two 
cotton crops, and thus remove the objection which exists against taking 
two crops of the same kind in succession. But I placed cotton 4th, be- 
cause there should come a manured crop at this period of the rotation, and 
I thought it better to give the manure to the more valuable crop, and be- 
cause cotton, as the 5th crop, would not admit of the cultivation of the pea, 
to provide manui-e for the small grain succeeding. The rotation might be 
thus varied, however, if circumstances should seem to render it desirable. 

I have put down no meadow in the rotation on the arable lands. But 
I believe the growth of hay to a cei'tain extent, not only to supply any or- 
dinary deficiency in winter feed beyond the quantity furnished by the 
usual sources — but to guard against contingencies, would be good econo- 
my in all cases. All farm animals must be well wintered, to give a prof- 
itable return in summer; and those occasional scarcities of fodder always 
liable to overtake the farmer, should be providently guarded against. It 
is never considered poor economy, in the North, to have a few tons of hay 
even to summer over. The necessary meadows fin- the plantation might 
be made on some of the less arable lands before referred to — and, when 
the tillage lands are in an uncommonly fertile state and pasturage plenty, 
it would do to mow one of the grass crops (the second one) of the above 
rotation, though, if avoidable, I should think the other course entirely pref- 
erable. 

On poorer lands — the poorest class which can be profitably devoted to 
cotton growing — I would propose a five-shift course, as follows : 

1st year, Grass depastured. 3d year, Cotton. 

2d .. do. do. 4th .. Com with peas. 

5th year, Small grains with grass seed. 

The manure to be given to the third or fourth crop, according to circum- 
stances, or divided between them. 

On lands of a still inferior grade, but which it may be expedient to 
plow at intervals, I would propose the following : 

Ist year, Grass depastured. 
2d .. do. do. 

3d .. do. do. 

* I mean by this, the maniu-e from enery source which is carted upon the land in quantity, as contradis- 
tingrvished from that which is dropped there by animals, made by plowing under vegetables, or carried on 
In small quantities to drop in the lull, &c. 



4th year, Grass depastured (or mown.) 

5th .. Corn with peas. 

6th .. Small grains with grass seed. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 85 

The number of years depastured to depend upon fertility — the poorer the 
land, the longer it should be kept in pasture. 

The following is the rotation which was introduced by Col. Taylor, 
north of the cotton-growing region : 

1st year, Com. 3d year, Clover (and weeds) not mown nor 

2d .. Wheat and clover sown — if too grazed. 

poorforwheat,left at rest and not grazed. 4th .. Clover not mown nor grazed. 

Of this, Mr. John J. Thomas, one of the Editors of the Albany Culti- 
vator, very justly remarks : 

" It was materially opposed to the principles of good husbandry in several respects. It 
furnished vegetable manure only to the land. A large portion of the value of this vegetable 
growth was lost, by dissipation into the air, during its decay. The returns from the land 
were necessarily small, as only two years out of four produced crops for harvesting. And it 
greatly increased the labors of tillage, by the uicrease of noxious weeds." 

Had this clover been fed off by sheep, a portion of the above objections 
would be inapplicable, apd there would be no danger of the com 
leaving the soil too impoverished for wheat, particularly if peas were 
sown with the former, to be plowed under. A crop of iveeds is, of all 
others, the most to be avoided, as the seeds deposited by it will continue 
to sprout for years with the subsequent tillage crops, rendering them foul 
and difficult of cultivation. 

I may be in a profound en-or, but I cannot but believe, after carefully 
studying Southern Agiiculture, and the circumstances which invest it, 
that by adopting the six-shift system of rotation above recommended, or 
something analogous to it, on the cotton lands, the desideratum expressed 
in Judge Seabrook's Report will be attained. More cotton will ulti- 
mately, if not even now, be produced from less land : the other necessa- 
ries of life will become mainly the product of the plantation ; a new staple 
will be introduced to employ the surplus capital, as profitable at least in 
its acreable products as cotton, and tending to the constant reparation, as 
cotton tends to the constant waste of the fertility of the land. 

I will not tire you. Sir, with a comparison between the relative profits 
of wool and cotton gi-owing. On looking over the answers of Southern 
gentlemen to Mr. Walker's Treasury Circular, (1845,) I find that the 
stated profits on cotton in the Atlantic and Gulf States, west of Louisiana, 
range from 1 to 8 per cent, on capital invested — the average of all the 
statements being about 4^ per cent. ! 

I may remark incidentally that in your own able replies to that Circular, 
you set down the profits of rice growing between 1842 and 1845, at 7^ per 
cent. ; for the ten preceding years, at " about 8 per cent." 

A reference to Letter V. will show you how these profits compare with 
those of wool-growing. Admitting the accuracy of the data therein given, 
there is no very great difference in the cost of growing a pound of wool 
and a pound of cotton ! 

We come now to the fourth point of view in which we are to regard the 
profits of sheep husbandry in the Southern States — " whether independent 
of preceding considerations, and even if the staples furnished by sheep hus- 
• bandry proved no more profitable, in direct returns on capital invested, 
than some of the present staples, it would not be better economy, on the 
whole, for the South to produce the raw material and manufacture do- 
mestic woolens, particularly for the apparel and bedding of slaves, than to 
be dependent for them on England and Massachusetts 1 " 

The woolen apparel and bedding of slaves, when no part of it is manu 
factured on the plantation, costs about $6 per head per annum. The 
blankets imported from England weigh about 4^ lbs. and cost a little over 



86 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

$3. The Welsh plains, imported from England, weigh usually not far fi-om 
13 ounces per yard, and cost fi'om 65 to 70 cents; and the Chelmsfords, 
a heavy, coarse article, from Massachusetts, from 50 to 58 cents. 

Now what is the cost of manufacturing (including wool and every other 
expense,) cloth of the same amount of stock, and better quality, than Welsh 
jilains 1 To the present weight of the cloth per yard add one-third, and 
you have the weight of the wool in the fleece — as bought of the farmer.* If, 
then, the Welsh plains weigh 13 ounces per yard, they required 171 ounces 
of fleece-wool as stock. Wool of the quality worked into " plain cloth" 
or " sheep's gray," in this State, (New-York,) many shades better in qual- 
ity than the stock of Welsh plains, has averaged from June to December, 
1846, from, say, 20 to 22 cents a poundf — or, if pulled from the pelts of 
slaughtered sheep, as is the case with large quantities of it Avorked into 
these cloths, it did not, during the same period, stand the purchaser-in to 
exceed 18 cents per pound. Assume the average to be 21 cents per pound, 
and the stock of a yard of these cloths (171 ounces) would cost 22f cents. 

You are familiar with the character of the " sheep's grays " of New- 
York. They are worn almost universally by our farmers. Of the twenty- 
five thousand men you saw at the State Fair at Rochester, at least three- 
fourths of them ordinarily wear this quality of cloth for pantaloons, and 
say one-half of them for coats. Its ordinary weight is from that of the 
Welsh plain to 16 ounces per yard, and its style and expense of manufac 
ture are superior to those of the former. It can be manufactured, in 
eluding use of machinery, &c., and every process after the wool is received 
in the fleece, to fitting it for market, for eleven cents per yard ! A mer- 
chant of this State owns a manufactory, employing say $25,000 or $30,000 
of capital, which turns off from 500 to 600 yards of cloth per diem — the 
fleece-wool being converted into finished cloth in eight days. His whole 
expenses, including use of manufactory, averages, according to his own 
statements, not to exceed the above named price per yard. Add this sum 
to the cost of wool, and cloths containing an equal quantity and quality of 
stock with Welsh plains would cost 33f cents per yard ; and you there- 
fore pay for this class of cloths about one h/mdred per cent. hey and the first 
cost, for transportation, duties, and manufacturer's profits. The latter, of 
course, absorbs most of the immense sum thus paid* or rather thrown away, 
annually by the Southern States, The Chelmsfords, and various other 
woolen goods imported by you, are probably manufactured at nearly equal 
profits. 

Is it singular, then, that " acres of woolen manufactories " are now in 
the process of erection in the North % or that existing establishments 
are declaring dividends of from ten to fifteen per cent. 1 \ 

But I have not done with the data of manufacturing. The manufac- 
turer above alluded to has, to my certain knowledge, exchanged "sheep's 
grays " requiring a pound of stock per yard, for wool of the same quality 
as the stock, giving a yard of cloth for 1|^ lbs. of wool. Calling this wool 



■* After being; washed in the ordinary manner on the back of the sheep. 

t Wool has risen since Decertiher. 

i I did contemplate an enumcralinn of the new woolen manufactories now building, or in contempla- 
tion, within my knowledirc, in this S^ate and Now-Kn^iland ; but will mention but a few of the most im- 
portant ones. The Bay State Mill'^, now in prnce=s of erection in the new city of Lawrence, Mass., will 
work up 2,00fl,O(HI lbs. of wool per annum. One. of the mills, 200 feet long and six stories high, will go into 
operation this summer. The machine-shop, wool-liniise, etc.. the mere ofiicei,) will be, including wings, 
thirtern himdrc'l fret in length, and three stories hiu'li. Their very sooer will cost $2.5,000! A splendid 
Bteam mill has just none into oi)eration in Ulica, in this -^tate, which will work up 1,000,000 lbs. of wool per 
annum. Another of the same size is in contemplation, in Utica ; another in Syracuse ; another in Auburn, 
&c. ! There never was a time when Ameiican m^inufactures stood on a firmer basis, or were making bet- 
ter profits tcitli a prospect of having them continuous. This is conceded by the ablest of the manufacturen 
tkeJHSelvts. as 1 shall, in the proper place, show. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 87 

21 cents per pound, the cloth would thus cost the purchaser 36|- cents per 
yard. 

Any of the manufactories doing custom-work will manufacture these 
goods " at the halves," so that a yard requiring a pound of stock would 
cost two pounds of wool, or 42 cents. That as heavy as Welsh plains 
would thus cost 45^ cents, it being from 19^ to 24^ cents per yard less ilian 
you now pay. Yet here the manufacturer oi ciistom-work admits the suffi- 
ciency of the profit, by asking no more. 

Blankets are of still coarser wool, having the appearance of Smyrna, or 
inferior South American. They are not " sheared,"* which diminishes 
the waste. Neither do they need dyeing matter. But independent of 
these considerations, calling cost of stock per pound, and the waste fi-om 
all causes the same, 6 lbs. of fleece-wool would make a blanket. To the 
wool costing 21 cents a pound add 11 cents per pound (of the stock) for 
manufacturing, and the actual cost of the blanket is Si 92. Have them 
manufactured by the halves, and they would cost you 12 lbs. of wool each, 
or S2 52. 

I have in the previous estimates, based my calculations on the marlict 
price of the lower quality of medium wools.t But there is another and a 
most important view of the subject. It has already been shown that the 
South can produce wool, to any desirable extent, at a sum not exceeding 
8 cents per pound — and, in favored localities, at a much lower rate. By 
the exchanging system (wool for cloth) you would get a yard of cloth 
equaling the Welsh plain in stock, and superior in quality, for 2 lbs. 2|- oz. 
of wool, costing the producer just 17^ cents ! A blanket weighing 4^ lbs. 
would be obtained for 12 lbs. of wool, costing 96 cents ! 

Does this sound a little like dreaming. Sir ] I ask you to carefully 
examine the premises, and see if there is any escaping from these con- 
clusions % 

Will the South continue to slumber on, thus throwing away the fi-uits 
of her industry % Do you tell me that her people know nothing about 
manufacturing, and have no taste for it % The necessary knowledge is as 
readily acquired by a Southern as a Northern man ; and when that is ob» 
tained, and there is a prospect of p>i'ofit ahead, the taste will not long be 
wanting ! You have the capital : you have natural facilities to an un- 
bounded extent both to propel the machinery and produce the staple. 
What more do you want % What more can you ask % A joint stock asso- 
ciation of planters, at any suitable point, might cause a manufiictory to be 
erected worth say S25,000, under the direction of a skillful and experi- 
enced machinist. This would turn off", say, 500 yards of cloth per diem. 
If the machinery was in all respects good, and the water-powei sufficient 
and unfailing, a competent and responsible Northern manufacturer could 
be obtained (if desired), to take the establishment, furnishing hands, &c., 
and work the wool furnished him into cloth of the kind before described — 
containing about the same stock with Welsh plains, and fitting it for mar 



' * After a sufficient number of fibres have been torn up from the threads by the teazles or cards of the 
" gig-mill " to form a sutiiciently thick nap on the surface, these fibres are cropped or "sheared " by a ma- 
chine for that purpose ; and in superfine cloths the process is several times repeated, each time cutlin;; off 
an additional portion of fibre, which is called "flocks." A dishonest custom now prevails among some 
manufacturers of workinc these flocks again into the body of the cloth to give them weight, dcnscness, and 
apparent firmness. By this means the gigging and shearing process can be continued on thinnish cloths un- 
til a beautiful surface is obtained, wiihoul" the additional thinness and lightness consequent thereon being 
apparent to any but an experienced eye. Sheep's grays and other coarse cloths are gigged and sheared but 
slightly. In some manufactories the former process is altogether omitted, and the cloth is simply 
" brushed " prior to shearing. Such cloths are stronger, but do not look as well. 

t Say of the quality of common South-Down and Native and Long wools, with a sufficient dash of Me- 
rino blood in the last to make them carding-vvools, and to bring them to about the same fineness with 
the first named. 



88 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



ket, for eight or nine cents a yard.* I know of a manufacturer, at no great 
distance from me, who thus takes a manufactory worth perhaps $8,000 or 
$10,000, and furnishes the cloth (of the above stamp,) fitted for market, for 
nine cents a yard, the owner funiishing the wool, the use of the manufac- 
tory, and the dyeing matter.t The supply of water at this establishment 
fails during two or three months each year ; and one competent to judge 
informs me that seven cents would be better pay per yard, if the machine- 
ry could be kept in motion the year round. It is probable that it would 
cost rather more at the South to provide the necessary fixtures, obtain 
machinery, etc. ; and it would also cost more, for a period, to carry on 
manufacturing, from the greater difficulty of obtaining operatives in case 
of losino- any of those attached to the establishment. All these disadvan- 
tages, however, not t)f much importance at the first, will soon disappear. 
Slaves should, as rapidly as the nature of the case admits of, be converted 
into operatives, and when the number becomes once adequate to the end, it 
might be indefinitely multiplied, without those embarrassments which so 
commonly attend the attempt to mingle white and black labor. 

It is cheaper to manufacture by hand,t (with the exception of carding, 
fulling, and dressing,) than to purchase your slave cloths at present piices, 
if slave costs no more than free labor. 

On the average, 15 knots of warp, and 15 of filling, make one yard of 
flannel about 5 quarters wide. The ordinary shrinkage of tliis, in fulling 
it into cloth, is one quarter in length and width. It would therefore re- 
quire 40 knots to make a yard of fulled cloth. The carding here in small 
parcels costs 3 cents jjer pound, and 18 j cents per pound for fulling, dye- 
ing and dressing. In considerable quantities, the carding can be hired done 
for 2 cents per pound, and the other processes for one shilling per yard. 
Spinning (by considerable quantities and for " cash-pay,"||) can be hired 
done for 7 cents a run (20 knots) for warp, and 5 cents for filling — averag- 
ing 6 cents for both. Weaving can be hired done for 6 cents per yard (of 
flannel), which brings it, in the dressed cloth, to 8 cents per yard. The ac- 
count would then stand thus : 



1 lb. of wool 

Carding same 

Spinning 

Weaving 

Dj-eing, fulling and dressing , 

Total 



Small parcels. 


Large parcels. 


21 cents. 

3 •• 
14 " 
10 " 


21 cents. 

12 " 

8 " 

121 .. 


66| cents. 


.5.55 cents. 



Making 55\ cents the price of a yard of domestic cloth, estimating the 
wool at market price : estimating the latter at cost of production (Scents), 
the price of the finished cloth would be 42^ cents per yard, and it is a 
better article for wear than either the Welsh plains or Chelmsfords.§ 

* I have no doubt it could be done at a fair profit in the North for 7 cents per yard. I am understood, of 
course, to mean that the manufacturer pays no rent, insurance, nor for repairs. The stockholders furnish 
the wool, which is worked up by the former, at the stipulated price. 

t Modem ingenuity has reduced the expense of this to a mere trifle. Most of the " sheep's grays," you 
have observed, are of ferruginous hue. Those of this color are dyed principally by tan tori— the'bark of 
the hemlock (Abies canadtn^is), which is sold here at $1 75 to 82 a cord ! 

% I am aware that to "manufacture" is to make by haiid, but I use the word in its popular and more gen- 
eral signification. It would have been better to have compounded a word from the Latin machina and 
facto (machinfaeture to signify made by machinery, and thus expressed the two ideas by properly de- 
rived and definitive words. 

II This word " cash-pay " is one of mighty import in the regulation of prices in the interior, where a very 
general (but now decreasing) system of barter prevails, and under which Wealth too often dictates to 
Want what it shall receive for its labor, and also prescribes the prices of the commodities in which it pays. 

'^ Home-made fabrics are usually stronger and wear better than those made by machinery, (or, in other 
words, manufactured cloths outwear marJiinfactured ones !) but this is not necessarily so. The several 
processes can be done undoul)tedly, and pi-obably, generally are more perfectly by machinery than by 
hand. But in machine-made cloths the yarn is commonly spun finer, so there is less stock in a yard. And 
they arc submitted to processes, desciibed in a previous Note, which farther impair their strength. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 89 

$1,500 will set up a carding and cloth-dressing factory, which, with 
three good hands, will tuni off 50 yards of cloth per diem. By Table I, 
it appears that in 1839 there were but 114 of these factories south of the 
Potomac and west of the Mississippi, doing an annual business of $320,- 
938, while in the single State of New- York there were 323 factories, doing 
an annual business of $3,537,337 ! Of the 114 Southern factories 66 were 
in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee ; 41 in Virginia ; 3 in each of 
the Carolinas ; 1 in Georgia, and in the remaining four, none ! 

The number is decreasing in New-York, as manufactories of the com- 
mon fabi'ics, worn by farmers and other laboring men, are increasing in 
every dii'ection — many of them doing cvistom-work either at the halves, 
or at a fixed sum per yard — and all of them exchanging cloth for wool. 
By either of these methods, the cloth can be obtained as cheaply, perhaps 
cheaper, than to manufacture it in families. But circumstanced as you 
are at the South, you can, as before asserted, manufacture more cheaply 
by hand (excej^ting carding, fulling and dressing), than to import your 
slave cloths at present prices, if provided with factories to perform the ex- 
cepted processes. Where the institution of slavery exists, and where 
spinning, weaving, etc., can be done in those intei"vals of bad weather 
when the time of laborers would otherwise be entirely thrown away, it is 
doubtful whether any extension of even the coarse cloth manufactories 
would, or ought to, in an economical point of view, banish the home-made 
article. If we count the slave labor thus saved one-half the value of fi-ee 
labor, and dispense with the fulling and dressing* (which we usually dis- 
pensed with in manufacturing Somestic slave cloths, in the interior of the 
Carolinas, Georgia, etc.), the cloth would cost but 20 cents a yard, and the 
dyeing might cany it to 22 cents. Let one-half the fabric be made of cot- 
ton, and the cost would be still farther reduced.t 



Since the above was written, I have received the samples of Welsh 
plains, Chelmsford plains, and slave blankets forwarded by you. None of 
these goods cj:cced in quantity the estimate I have put upon them in my 
preceding remarks. 

The Welsh jilain which you state cost 65 cents per yard by the piece, 
(32 inches wide,) is about the thickness of rather heavy — but not the 
heaviest — sheep's gray. It is not, however, by many shades, so close and 
firm a cloth, for the want of equal fulling ; and perhaps even this would 
not give it equal firmness, by reason of the loose twist of the yarn. The 
yarn is considerably coarser, (larger in diameter,) than that ordinarily era- 
ployed in sheep's gray — but it denves no inconsiderable portion of its 
bulk (which gives the cloth its thickness) from the loose and imperfect man- 
ner in which it was twisted in vspinning. This is particularly the case 
with the filling, which you can scarcely detach from even so open a web, 
without its breaking in pieces. Accordingly, the cloth tears very easily 
Icngtlucise, for that presenting such an ajyparent amount of stock. 

With a sufficient amount of fulling, dyeing, (it is white,) and a little 
gigging and shearing — or simply brushing — it would become identical in 

* But still you want carding-machines, to card the ■wool ; for, by hand, it is a slow and expensive process. 

1 1 was shown a new article of satinets a day or two since. It was double or broadcloth width, black, 
and the cotton warp dyed black, and could only be distinguished from a verj' fair piece of black broad- 
cloth Ijy examining the cut edge. The manufacturer stated that the cotton warp weighed but 3 oz. per 
yard ; but I do not credit the assertion. One is strongly inclined to suspect that a cloth of this character 
could not have been "got up" for any very legitimate purpose, but that it belongs in the wooden-nutmeg 
end horn-Hint category ! 

The ordinary satinet, when well made, is a profitable, cheap cloth. 

M 



90 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

appearance with heavy sheep's gray, excepting in the quality of the 
wool. That is inferior to any I ever saw in a single piece of the former. 
It appears to be of two qualities, the finest about like the Asia Minor or 
African ("Smyrna" or " Mogadore ") wools; and this intermixed with 
occasional still coarser sharp) j^ointed hairs, which could come only from 
an animal not many removes from the wild Argali.* In both, there is a 
peculiarly dry, harsh, wiry feeling, not found in North American wools, 
and which is more indicative of an inferior staple — of brittleness, and want 
of felting properties — than even their coarseness. The staple is not appa- 
rently a very long one. I conjecture that it is Iceland wool — or that, 
mixed with Orkney, or some of the coarsest short or medium staple wools 
of Scotland. 

The Chelmsfords, (31 inches wide,) twilled, undyed,t cost, you inform 
me, 58 cents per yard. The plain article, (/. e. untwilled,) 28 inches wide, 
costs 50 cents per yard. The sample of the twilled, forwarded by you, is 
a thicker, decidedly stronger cloth, with larger and far more tightly 
twisted yarn, than the sample of Welsh plains. The wool is of about the 
same quality, though at first view it strikes you as decidedly coarser, as 
the longer nap shows more of the coarse fibres on the surface, and these 
are rendered more conspicuous still by their variety of color. But on re- 
solving portions of each cloth back into unmanufactured wool, I can detect 
little or no difterence in its fineness, unless it be that the stock of the 
Chelmsford plains possesses none of those peculiarly coarse fibres or hairs 
which characterize the other. The wool used in the Chelmsfords is ap- 
parently of a longer staple. It is probably South American, though it 
may be Smyrna or Mogadore, as it bears a strong resemblance to the wool 
of the broad-tailed sheep of Asia and Africa. You state that the Welsh 
is generally thought to outwear the Chelmsford plain. This may be true 
of the ordinary articles, but I think it cannot be of the samples forwai'ded. 
Of these, the latter possesses neai'ly double the strength of the former, 
and is much the heaviest cloth. 

The slave blanket, 6 feet 11 inches long, by 6 feet 5 inches wide, weigh- 
ing 4-^ lbs., you state cost about $3 12^ by the piece (a piece containing 
16 l)lankets costs $50). It is manufactured of a very coarse and a long 
stapled wool — not much fulled — with a long nap raised on both surfaces. 
The wool in quality resembles that used in the Chelmsfords. 

On the receipt of these samples, I forwarded a specimen of the Welsh 
plains to two manufacturers of experience and perfect pecuniai'y respon- 
sibility, asking them at what price per yard they would contract to furnish 
me 100,000 yards of cloth of the same style and equal quality with the 
sample. The question was put to both of these gentlemen and received 
by them, as purely a commercial one — the opening of a commercial nego- 
tiation. Each stood ready to enter immediately on the fulfillment of a 
contract, based on his offer. 

The following is the answer of one of the above named gentlemen : 

Henry S. Randall, Esq. Morrisville, N. Y., April 20, 1847. 

Dear Sir : Yours of the 113th is at band and duly noticed. I have no wool of the quality of the 
sample sent and do not wish to work foreiirn wool. I would like to make for you 100,000 yards 
like the sample, out of our American or domestic wool. I would make it as thick and tight as the 
sample sent, 32 inches wide, at 40 cents per yard. I cnuld not .say how much less it would cost 
to gel up the arti(;le from the same kind of wool with that H.sed in the sample. I do not know 
what that kind of wool is now worth in market. I have not worked any of it for two rears pasl. 

Yours, truly, C. TILLINGHAST. 

* Many of the uniraprnved breeds have, as is comraon with wild animals, a coating of hair over a finer pe- 
lage lieneath, and it is diliic-ult to perfectly sejmrate them. 

t A small ponion of the wool employed in the tilling is black, giving the cloth a diriy drab or ash color. 
But this I take to be the natuiul color of the wool. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 91 

The first answer of the other manufacturer, S. Newton Dexter, Esq. of 
Whitestown, Oneida Co., N. Y., (head of the Oriskany Manufacturing 
Company,) it is not necessary to transcribe entire. Mr. Dexter informed 
me that his machinery is calculated for the manufacture of fine cloth ; that 
the carding of coarse wool would injure his cards ; that its manufacture 
would throw him out of his regular course of business ; that he had no 
wool of the quality used in the sample on hand ; that he should be com- 
pelled to use domestic wool ; and that for these reasons and some others 
named by him, he could not undertake to fill the contract at less than 42 
cents per yard — which he knew would be considered a high price. 

Mr. Dexter being a gentleman equally distinguished for his correct and 
able business character, and for that capacity and range of information 
which give value to his opinions on all the topics connected with this in- 
vestigation, I addressed him a second communication, asking him what he 
could manufacture the cloth for, giving him time to procure stock of the 
same quality used in the sample. I also inclosed hiin proof-sheets of the 
preceding part of this letter, asking him his opinion of the correctness of 
my statements, in relation to the general cost of manufacturing, &c. The 
following extracts from his reply will be read with interest : 

Col. Henry S. Randall : Whitestown, April 24, 1847, 

Dear Sir: Yours reached me on "Wednesday. There is no doubt at all but what if I felt cer- 
tain that wool could be procured of the quality of which j'our sample was made, at a price pro- 
portionably low, I could have aiforded to have manufactured the cloth at 37 cents per yard, as 

well as at 42, and use our coarse native wool, at a probable cost of 25 cents There has been 

an advance of more than 70 per cent, in the price of lard oil. The price a short time since was 
55 cents. The last 1 bought cost 95 cents in New-York. Five quarts of this oil are wanted to 

every 80 yards of these cloth.? I cannot imagine where the wool was from out of which tlie 

sample was made, probably from Iceland — for I recollect some twenty years ago the Oriskany 
Manufacturing Company obtained just such wool somewhere, when American wool was deemed 
too high, and manufactured it into miserable satinets, by which they lost a great deal of money. 
The wool was said to have been imported from Iceland. I was one of the Directors of the mill 
then, but had nothing to do with " operating "it 

You request my opinion as to the correctness of your statements of the probable cost of Welsli 
plains, &c., and generally of the statements put forth by you on the subject of woollen manufac- 
tories. I am not very good authority as to the cost of manufacturing coarse woolens, never hav- 
ing done much in that way. I am free to say, however, that your estimates may generally be 
relied on. Certainly you have allowed liberally ibr what would have been the cost of such wool 
by the pound last year; but I think your estimate of 17^ oz. of wool in the fleece, out of which to 
manufacture one yard of cloth 32 inches wide, similar to the sample inclosed in your letter, too 
low. I should think it would certainly take 20 oz., or 1^ pounds. The allowance of 11 cents for 
manufacturing will, I am inclined to think, pay charges, but it will not afford any profit, nor in- 
terest on capital, nor leave anything for keeping machinery in repair. It is a very close calcula- 
tion, when fuller's soap, lardoil, &c., are so high. 

The sheep's gray cloths that you speak of, you will observe, are generally not quite ^ wide 

say 26 inches — while the sample you sent me was 32 inches. One pound of well wa.'ihed Heeco 
wool will make a yard of sheep's gray of medium quality ; but unless the goods ave Jlockcd, the 
calculation is a very clo.se one indeed. 

I am inclined to think that you overestimate the profit of manufacturing woolen goods, although 
I admit that in well-managed institutions, that have the most improved machinery, with an abun- 
dant capital, the profits have, at times, been very large indeed, and our friend Samuel Law- 
rence, of whom you speak, is the most protniuent example of .such a manufacturer within ray 

knowledge Every new manufactory erected, if built with judgment, has one advai :ago 

over those already in operation, and that is, they have availed themselves of all the improve .lents 
of those in operation. And as machinery is constantly being produced at cheaper rates, a i iCtory 
of increa.sed capacity will probably have cost less money 

The Oriskany Manufacturing Company is the oldest company now manufacturing woolen 
goods in the United States. They have made satinets which have sold readily at $3 50 per yard, 
and have made cloths which have as readily sold for $12 per yard. Satinets full as good can 
now be bought at 75 cents, and handsomer, if not better cloths, for $3. What a change is here ! 
And yet the Oriskany Manufacturing Company was perhaps never doing better than now. This 
Company availed itself of the opportunities offered la.st year to obtain woo! very low, to [lurchase 
a supply for nearly two years. This year the business will be good, that is, pay a profit of 10 per 
cent, on investments, even where wool is purchased at current rates ; but I do not believe it will 
nay more. I will furnish you with a brief estimate : 



92 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

A mill with a capital of $100,000 will maniiracture. say 90,000 yards of 6-4 cloth, which 

will bring in market an average of $1 50 per yard, or $233,000 

To get these cloths into cash (for they are sold at 8 mouths, and are charged 
with commission of 5 per cent., and other charges equal, in all, including in- 
terest, boxing and transportation, to I',' per cent $16,200 

Cost of 22.'),000 lbs. of wool at 30 cents 67..500 

:i,:300 gallons sperm and lard oil at $1 a.'JOO 

.. Soap, soft and hard 3,500 

.. 800,000 teazles 1,000 

.. Dyeing materials of all kinds 11,500 

.. Fuel 1,000 

.. Paper, tape, twine, nails, lumber, cards, candles, &c 3,000 ■ 

.. Labor, $r.,0O0per quarter, or 20,000 

.. Insurance - 2,000 

Total $122,000 

If I were under oath, I do not believe I should alter any of these items — or, at least, I should 
add as often as I diminished, I have no doubt. You may think $1 50 a low^ average for cloths, 
but it must be a very fair cloth to bring that sum, I assure you. You may also thinl< 12 per cent. 
a high charge for getting these cloths into casli. &c., but it is scarcely what we pay. And the 
records of our vi'ool book will show that 30 cents is the cost of such wool as we work. And our 
books will prove that it has taken, for many years pa.st, 2^ lbs. of wool to make a yard of broad- 
cloth. There is 13 per cent, left for profits here, becau.se I have not allowed one cent for repairs 
or taxes, or for the agents' salaries, which will swell the expenses fully up to $124,500 — within a 

fraction of swallowing up all over 10 per cent Well, I admit that 10 per cent, is a great 

business ; but you speak of 15, and that is going too far 

Very respectfully your friend and obedient servant, S. NEWTON DEXTER. 

In will be seen from the foregoing letters : 

1st. That where their machinery is adapted to it, manufacturers are will- 
ing to make and sell goods of the same amount of stock and style of 
manufacture, with Welsh plains, out of domestic wool for 40 cents per 
yard ; and that manufacturers of perfect pecuniary responsibility are ready 
to contract so to furnish it. This (apart from the small item of transporta- 
tion) is twenty-five cents per yard, or about tliirty-nine per sent, cheaper 
than you now obtain these cloths : and an article manufactured from do- 
mestic wool would, by reason of the far superior strength sxiA felting prop- 
erty of the stock, be much stronger and more durable than the foreign 
goods. 

2d. It will be farther seen that a skillful and responsible manufacturer 
would furnish cloth, conesponding with Welsh plains, at 37 cents per yard, 
could he procure the same quality of wool now employed in the manufac- 
ture of those cloths at a price proportionably low with domestic wools, 
calling the latter 25 cents per pound. 

Blankets are manufactured at equally exorbitant profits ; and the 
Chelmsfords, paying less transportation and no duties, approach the same 
standard of profit — though, judging from your samples, I consider them 
the cheapest goods. 

I have given Mr. Dexter's undoubtedly fair and candid statements in 
the premises — my object in these letters being, as I once before have 
stated, to arrive at truth, and not to support a favorite hypothesis, or to 
maintain, at all hazards, preconceived views. 

My own estimates and those of Mr. Dexter, of the actual cost of manu- 
facturing Welsh plains, it will be seen, differ — but not so materially as 
would as first appear, when the advance of wool, soap, oil, &c., are taken 
into consideration. I have no doubt that, in making his estimates, he had 
his eye more on the better and more elaborate machinery of his own mills 
— the more expensive and perfect performance of the various manufactur- 
ing processes common in that class of establishments, than on the cheaper 
machinery and processes necessary in the manufacture of coarse goods. 
My estimates, or rather statements of cost of manufacturing sheep's gray, 
you will recollect, were given on supposed actual Icnoicledge of what a 
manufacturer of these goods had made tlmm at. To these Mr. D. seems 
to take no exceptions. 

In relation to the shrinkage of wool, Mr. Dexter undoubtedly bases his 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 93 

opinion mainly on liis own experience in manufacturing broad and other 
cloths of fine quality. In these, the shrinkage of the wool from the fleece 
is concededly at least half. And the firm, well finished and honestly made 
Oriskany cloths, I have no doubt require the highest rate of shrinkage in 
the stock. But Mr. D. concedes that a " pound of fleece wool will make a 
yard of sheep's gray of medium quality." Now the Welsh plain, of the 
quality of the sample, weighs 13 oz. per yard. As I have already stated, 
" the ordinary weight of the sheep's gray is fi-om the weight of the Welsh 
plain to 16 oz. per yard." Thus a yard of " medium " sheep's gray out- 
weighs a yard of the Welsh plain. If this is so, the former, of course, re- 
quires the greatest amount of stock, the mere width making no difference 
whatever. Mr. Dexter was led into this error, evidently, by overesti- 
mating the iveight of the Welsh plains — and this arose from the smallness 
of the sample submitted for his inspection. 

His statement of the cost of manufacturing broadcloths by the Oriskany 
Company is entitled, I have no doubt, to the fullest reliance. In conse- 
quence of his remarks on this topic I have changed a statement in the 
preceding part of this letter alluded to by him, for fear it might convey au 
erroneous idea. Where I spoke of " existing establishments declaring 
dividends of fifteen per cent.," I have changed it, so that it now reads 
" fiom ten to fifteen per cent.," these being the dividends, respectively, of 
the Oriskany and Middlesex* Companies last year, and exhibiting about 
the range, probably, af well-managed companies. 

* Mr. Lawrence's great establishment at Lowell, which works up 1,700,000 lbs. of wool per annum. 



94 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



t 



LETTER Vm. 

PROSPECTS OP THE WOOL MARKET— FUTURE DEMAND AND SUPPLY. 

Amount ofWool which may be grown in the Southern States... If the demand is already supplied, where 

is it to find a Market? The cheaper Producer can drive his rival i^-om the market, unless the disparity 

of Capital is greatly against him... In Individual Capital, the South possesses the advantage over the 
North. . .The South can produce Wool cheaper than New-York. . .North of latitude 40" there will be little 
ditTerence in the cost of producing Wool. . .Cost of iiroducing it in New-Knglaud — Pennsylvania — New-Jer- 
sey — Ohio. . .The Prairies — Their vast Extent — Their anticipated Advantages for Sheep Husbandry — Flocks 
driven on them — Anticipations blasted, so far as keeping Sheep ecrmomically on the Natural Grasses is con- 
cerned. . .Character of the Prairie Grasses — Flourish but during a short season, rendering the time of fodder- 
ing longer than even in New-England. . -Another Difficulty — The Wild Grasses which the Sheep feed on 
rapidly become extirpated — Statements of theEditor of the Prairie Farmer confirmatory of this, and of the 
assertion in relation to the length of the time of foddering. ..His proposition to introduce Grasses which will 
grow in the Wi7iter — Impracticability — Reasons. . -Burning over the Prairies— Objections. . .Indifl'erent 
quality of Prairie Hay. . .Principal Advantages of the Prairies for Sheep Husbandry narrowed down 
to two— Cheapness of Land — Privilege of Pasturing the Public Lands... The latter Advantage rapidly 
lessening. . .Cost of Preparing the Prairies for Sheep Husbandry — Mtiterials for Fences, Buildings and Fuel 
entirely wanting on the interior of them. . .Coal for Fuel plenty, but not economically available. . .Fences — 
those of earth inadequate. . .Hedges — Require /cnces to protect Mem while growing — Their success then 
doubtful... Timber may he grown for all of the above purposes, but would raise the cost of the land above 
those of the Sheep Lands of New-York and New-England. . .The Shepherd System as a Substitute for 
Fences — When the Sheep become numerous, it would cost more to keep them in separate flocks than 
fences cost in the East. . .Pasturing in Common considered — The Sheep could not be separated for any 
ordinary purpose of Sheep Husbandry — There would be no protection against theft, promiscuous inter- 
bieeding, untiinely impregnation — No way of effectually combating contagious disorders — Reasons. . .Nat- 
ural ami unremovable Objections to the Prairies — Want of Water— A Climate far more fickle and excessive 
than in the Eastern States. . .Shown by the record of the thermometrical observations kept at the Military 
Posts of the United States... These compared... Wool growing in Mexico — In South America. 

Dear Sir : In recommending the pi'oduction of Wool on a scale so ex- 
tensive in the Southei'n States, as I have done in my preceding Letters, 
the fact should not be lost sight of, that were these recommendations com- 
plied with, one of the great staples of commerce would,_be enormously 
increased. The Southern States — the ten* to which I have confined all 
ray preceding remarks and estimates — to say nothing of those in the same 
latitudes fve.it of the Mississippi — include an area of 450,000 square miles, 
or 288,000,000 square acres. Allow one-eighth of this region to be in a 
state of cultivation,+ or in natural pastures, and we have 36,000,000 acres 
which could be more or less devoted to the CTOwth of wool. Assuminof 
that, on the average, every two acres would, under proper tillage, support 
one sheep, (which, it seems to me, they might do with no very material 
diminution of present staples,) and that the sheep average 3 lbs. per fleece, 
the annual product of wool would be 54,000,000 lbs. This amount might 
be indefinitely added to, by diminishing the production of present staples. 
How far this could be economically done, experience must determine. 

If we concede the adequacy of the present supply of wool to the demand, 
*-aking the world together, it is appai-ent that an increase of 50, 75, or 100 
millions of pounds, in one quarter, will produce an over-supply, (and thus 
greatly depress prices,) unless met by an increased demand, or a coiTe- 
sponding diminution in production, in some other quarter. I do not concede 
the adequacy of the present supply, but shall, however, waive that point. 

The question now arises, where is the wool thus produced to find a 
market, if the South should, within the next ten, fifteen, or twenty years, 

* Nine, besides that portion of Louisiana east of the Mississippi. 

t Probably the amount in cultivation, including that in natural pasture, is set down pretty high. It may 
not exceed a tenth. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 95 

furnish such a surplus 1 Where is the present supply to be diminished, 
or the demand increased 1 

Where agricultural competition exists, as a matter of course the pro- 
ducer who can supply the market with the least expense to himself, has 
an advantage which nothing but a disparity greatly against him in capital 
can overcome. Large capital, satisfied with less gains than small capital, 
will sometimes sustain competition with the latter, with the advantages of 
the cheapness of production sovicivliat against it. But where the differ- 
ence in first cost is considerable, the cheaper producer can always drive 
his rival from the market. The aggregate agricultural capital in a region 
of given size in New-York, probably would ordinarily exceed that of an 
equal territory in South Carolina or Georgia. But it is not so with indi- 
vidual or personal capital. While the agi'icultui'al territory and capabilities 
of the latter States are in a comparatively few hands, those of New-York 
and New-England are parceled out among a multitude of small holdei's, 
who must realize the first class of agricultural profits, to support them- 
selves and their families. The advantage of capital is therefore, in reality, 
on the side of the South. 

But independent of this consideration, I have already attempted to show 
that the South can produce wool so much cheaper than New-York, that 
the latter will stand no chance whatever in competing with her more 
favored rival — so soon as that rival sees fit to avail herself of her advan- 
tages. North of latitude 40° there will be but little disj^arity in the cost of 
'producing wool ; and therefore if the South can drive New- York to relin- 
quish the production of this staple, she can do the same with all portions 
of the United States lying north of this parallel, unless on the shores of the 
Pacific, where the isothermal line is at least 5'° north of its course east of 
the Missouri. I will now enter upon some specifications, and, where ne- 
cessary, proofs, to sustain this proposition. 

New-England has, concededly, no advantages over New- York for the 
cheap production of wool. Northern Pennsylvania is higher, colder, and 
more sterile than most of southern New-York. South-eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, and the fertile portions of New-Jersey, are the natural producers of 
bread-stuffs for the less favored regions of those States, and of provisions 
of all kinds for the New-York City and Philadelphia markets. The high 
price which good lands bear in the vicinity of such markets, would prevent 
them from competing with cheap interior lands in wool-growing. There 
are sheep lands of good quality in western Pennsylvania ; and in the 
southern section, the winters are perceptibly a little shorter than in New- 
York. This will render the production of wool upon them somewhat 
less expensive than in the latter State, but it will not reduce it low enough 
to allow them to compete with the cheaper lands and still shorter win- 
ters of the South. The same remarks will apply to the hilly region con 
stituting the south-eastern portion of Ohio. 

Proceeding still farther west, we find a region extending to a vast distance 
whose topographical and geological features, flora, &c., taken in connec- 
tion, effectually distinguish it from the territory lying east of the Missis- 
sippi and Ohio. Vast plains, called joramV*, (so named by the early French 
settlers from t«he French word signifying meadow,) which can be purchased 
of the Government in the natural state for SI 25 per acre, and which are 
usually covered with natural grasses — would seem, if these grasses are 
adapted to the summer and winter subsistence of sheep, and there are no 
counterbalancing disadvantages, to unite facilities for the cheap production 
of wool not possessed in any other region of our country. And such supe- 
riority has actually and often been claimed for them. 



96 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Ipi'opose to investigate this question at considerable length, because there 
aie various considerations which, at first view, give great plausibility to this 
claim. And if the prairies can produce wool cheaper than the South, it is 
in vain for the latter to embark in the business — at least, beyond the ex- 
tent of supplying the home demand — for so limitless is the extent of these 
natural pastures throughout the whole northern basin of the Mississippi, 
that they could, perhaps, supply the entire market demand of the United 
States for this staple, for an indefinite period, vast as that demand is des- 
tined to be. 

But a very few years have elapsed since the most sanguine anticipations 
were indulged in, by large numbers of our Northern and Eastern flock- 
masters, in relation to the superior capabilities and advantages of the prai- 
ries over Eastern lands for sheep-walks ; and lai-ge flocks were driven hun- 
dreds of miles, lands purchased, and establishments created, to realize 
these supposed advantages. It is not too much to say that these anticipa- 
tions — so far at least, as keeping sheep on the natural herbage of the prai- 
ries is concerned, were briefly and summarily blasted. Many of the flocks 
driven there, actually perished in the midst of seeming plenty. On the 
whole, the experiment is generally conceded to have resulted in failure. 
Let us see whether this was occasioned by mismanagement — temporary 
and removable causes — or whether we must look for those causes in na- 
tural and unchangeable circumstances. 

Kjfortion of the wild prairie grasses are relished by sheep, and they thrive 
on them ; but these gi'asses, as well as all the other varieties growing there, 
flourish during but an unusually limited portion of the season. They be- 
gin to dry up and lose their nutritive qualities in midsummer, and long be- 
fore the foddering season has commenced on the bleakest highlands of 
New-England, they are as unfit for the subsistence of sheep, as dry brush ! 
Where the natural grasses are alone depended upon, the foddering season 
on the prairies, north of latitude 40°, will range from six to seven months 
— rarely, perhaps, fall short of six, on lands which have been previously 
depastured, provided the sheep are maintained in good condition. 

And there is another material difficulty with the prairie grasses which 
sheep feed on. They soon — many of them even in a single season — be- 
come extirpated if kept fed down while growing. This is so singular a 
fact in vegetable physiology, that I chose to state it in the words of an in- 
telligent resident of the prairie region — whose local pride and partiali- 
ties would naturally prompt him to give as favorable a coloring to the 
agricultural advantages of his chosen home, as a regard for truth would 
admit of. From a communication of J. Ambrose Wight, Esq., Editor of 
the Prairie Farmer, to L. A. Morrel* — replete with useful information, 
and characterized by an admirable candor — I make the following extracts : 

•' Sheep or other stock, but more particularly the former, put upon a given piece of wild 
prairie, and confined to it, unless the range be very large, would not continue to keep 
fat one season after another, though they would at first ; but if allowed a new range each 
season, they would always keep fat. The reason is this : Sheep in such cases will go over 
their range and select such food as they prefer, and will keep at it until it is gone. Hence 
the wild bean and pea vine, and a few other kinds of plants, will obtain their constant at- 
tentions, and will be kept so short that they will, on a given piece of land, die out the first 
year. Therefore if tinned out on the same grounds another season, the best food will be 
gone, and the poorer, with which they must then take up, and which itself gets continually 
pooi-er, win not sustain them in their first condition. A small flock of sheep will thus rua 
over a large extent of ground. 

Hence the utter hollowness of a supposition which appears to be common at the East, 
that large flocks of sheep can be sustained on the wild grass of the prairies alone. There 
are many places, it is true, where a farmer might keep a large flock on the wild prairies 

■* American Shepherd, pp. 138—145. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 97 

during the summer months with profit, provided he had not too many neig:hbors in the 
same business. But such flocks would conrinually lessen their own range, at the same lime 
that it is lessening by immigration, settlement and extended culture. I have been in the coim- 
try about nine years; having gone, at the first, into an entirely unsettled region, and have 
paid much attention to the matter ; and it is my belief that the wild prairies are desirable 
for wool-growing to a very limited degree ; but that the cultivated prairies are desirable for 
this purpose to an almost limitless extent." 

The following fully sustains my preceding statements in relation to the 
time of foddering. In answer to Mr. Morrel's question, " what leno-th of 
time is foddering necessary in Northern Illinois ]" Mr. Wight says : 

" The seasons have been extremely variable since my residence here — now nearly nine 
years. The winter of 1842 and '43 was the severest one since the settlement of the State; 
and the foddering season lasted from the middle of October to the middle of Ajiril. The 
winter of 1843 and '44, and the present one (1844-5) would require foddei-iug for a less time 
by full two months. This is on the supposition, hoieever, that good artificial pastura<re 
is provided. If the wild prairies are relied on alone for pasture and hay, full two months 
must be added to the foddering season ; and stock would barely get through at that ; and I 
think that sheep, in multimdes of instances, would perish. In this latitude with Timothy, 
Red-top and Clover pastures, the average time would be fi-om 4^ to .5 months. If a ''ood 
blue-grass pastm-e were provided, in such winters as the last and present, it might be reduced 
to two months, and I am told that some so provided for, one hnndred miles sotith of here 
have, the present winter, scarcely foddered at all. I apprehend, however, that our winters 
here will always be variable, and that it will be far more difficult to predict their length 
and intensity than in New-England." 

In another place Mr. Wight says : 

" If, however, the question is asked, ' Does not the pasture on the prairies fail early in au- 
tumn, so as to compel the removal of sheep to other pasture before it is time to go into winter 
quarters V I answer, yes — long before. In many sections the prairies afford no adequate 
pasture for dairy purposes after the first of Septeniljer The wild grasses are extreme- 
ly vigorous while they last, but are all, without an exception, short-lived." 

The great diminution of the foddering season, where the domestic or 
cultivated grasses are already made use of, which Mr. W. anticipates may 
result from the introduction of blue-grass, will be found utterly unattain- 
able. Blue-gi-ass (known as June or spear grass), is one of the common- 
est varieties in New- York and New-England. Peoria, in Illinois, is in 
about the same latitude with the City of New- York, and consequently that 
portion of Illinois north of Peoria, corresponds with a considerable portion 
of New-York, and all of Connecticut and Rhode Island. And the climate 
of the former is not less rigorous, and is far more variable, than in the lat- 
ter named States, as I shall presently show. Now in no portion of New- 
York or New-England will the blue-grass reduce the foddering season to 
two months, or anything like it. It is true that small flocks will pick up 
a subsistence on this and other grasses in the winter, when the ground is 
not covered with snow, and if the pastures ai'e not fed down in the fall. To 
suppose, however, that this or any other herbage will continue to grow, 
when the earth is fi-ozen almost to the consistency of a solid rock, far be- 
low its lowest roots, is an obvious error. In New- York, the ground remains 
so frozen usually during the entire winter, and in Northern Illinois the cold 
is equally intense, and there is less snow to protect the eartli from its ef- 
fects. The ground, therefore, is frozen quite as solidly, and considerably 
deeper than in the former. Grass left standing for winter consumption, 
in either State, becomes, by freezing and thawing, tough and innutritions, 
In New-York, the larger flock-masters have long since ceased to make any 
provision of this kind, for winter-feeding — preferring to keep their sheep 
in yards, and entirely from grass. 

As Mr. Wight himself very accurately remarks in another part of his 
communication, " It is found to be decidedly better to keep sheep up in 
small flocks, with ^ery little ground to run over, while kept on hay, than 



98 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



m 



to let them run out a part of the time and get such gi-ass as they can pick, 
while there is not enough to sustain them." But the reason for this given 
by Mr. W., that " they eat much dirt, are liable to be poisoned and lose 
their appetite for hay," is very far from being the correct one. Green 
grass always, in a great measure, deprives sheep of their appetite for dry 
hay. The grass thus left standing loses its nutritive qualities, so that it 
will but imperfectly sustain animals, and when the snow falls and covers 
it, sheep not only caimot obtain it, but they are left without appetite for 
other food. Open winters, i. e., winters without snow, are always particu- 
larly fatal to sheep which are suffered to run on the pastures, in this 
climate, and for the reasons above assigned. They sometimes appear to 
be doing well enough up to toward the close of February ; but they are 
imperceptibly losing conditicm and strength, and when the trying month 
of March, with its stormy and fickle weather, sets in, they begin to drop 
off, and all sorts of diseases — grub in the head, " the distemper," etc. — are 
assigned as the causes. 

It is in vain to attempt to shorten the foddering season north of latitude 
40^, on this side of the Rocky Mountains, by seeking for any plant to con- 
tinue its groiotli and thus 2)roduce green feed in tcinter, unless in limited 
districts, and on the margins of large bodies of water. No plant can 
draw its nutriment from solidly frozen ground. 

Mr. Wight proposes burning over portions of the prairies at intervals, 
to cause the vegetation to start afresh, and thus prolong the grazing sea- 
son on the prairies. Mr. Flower makes the same suggestion. In some 
localities, and under favorable circumstances, this might, temporarily, ac- 
complish the desired object ; but as population increases, and buildings 
and inclosures are erected, it would constantly lead to those unfortunate 
accidents, which have already, I believe, led at least one of the Western 
States to prohibit by severe penal enactments, the setting fire to the dead 
grass of the prairies. Besides, we have Mr. Wight's own authority for 
stating that sheep actually exi'/zyvate those of the prairie grasses which they 
will feed on, so that burning over could not cause these to re-sprout the 
same season or afterward. 

It i-equires but little knowledge of the habits of the sheep to know that 
grasses rejected by it in summer, will not constitute a proper aliment for 
it in winter, and that if confined to such food, it will not prosper. A few 
sheep with liberty to fich and toaste, will live on very inferior herbage in 
either summer or winter, (and hence the sanguine and erroneous state- 
ments put forth by owners of small flocks on the prairies,) but confine 
flocks to the same food — flocks which are too numerous to be allovv^ed the 
privilege of selection and rejection in their food, and the disastrous conse- 
quences will not be long in exhibiting themselves. 

In reviewing the preceding facts, the principal advantages of the prai- 
ries for the production of wool seem to be narrowed down to two points : 
the cheapness and fertility of the lands, with a contingent right inuring to 
the settler to use, without paying for it, all the unappropriated public do- 
main ! If we admit that the soil of the prairies is as well adapted to the 
artificial grasses as that of New-Vork or New-England, (a point which, to 
say the least of it, is doubtful, for experience has shown it to be other- 
wise in Michigan and some other portions of the West,) the only peculiar 
and exclusive advantages which the prairies have over the lands of the 
old Middle and Eastern States, is their cheapness and freedom from rent 
where unsettled. Emigration is rapidly abridging the latter privilege, 
however — more rapidly than can well be appreciated without a reference 
to the statistics of the several new North-western States. And it will be 



I 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 99 

remembered that when a prahie is belted round by population, and de 
pastured l)y numerous flocks and herds, its better grasses — at least for 
sheep — would be soon exterminated, and, consequently, though there 
might be ten or fifty thousand acres of common and free pasturage, it 
would be of trifling avail to the flock-master. 

But taking this privilege for what it is worth, and taking into account 
the difference in the price of lands — calling one Si 25, and the other $20 
per acre — and then, in my judgment, the Eastern will prove cheaper, all 
things considered, than the prairie lands, for Sheep Husbandry. I speak, 
of course, of the prairies as wholes — not of that narrow margin of each, 
which is attached to the farms lying partly on the outer and wooded lands. 

The prairies must first be plowed, undoubtedly,* to seed them down ef- 
fectually with the cultivated grasses. It requires from four to six yoke of 
oxen, says Mr. Solon Robinson, to break up from one to one and a half 
acres per diem. Suppose we concede this expense to be paid for by the 
first grain crop used as a covering for the grass ; then the prairies are to 
be fenced — adequate buildings and other fixtures provided, for the use of 
a family, the storage of hay, the shelter of animals, &c. Where are the 
materials for these things and for fuel to be found, on a plain wholly desti- 
tute of trees, unless on the occasional " islands" — and where stones are 
entirely wanting, excepting sparsely scattered bowlders, and, very rarely, 
I'ocky ridges or cliffs 'I Conceding that all the wood on the margins of the 
prairies will not be wanted for the local supply — which, as a general thing, 
it undoubtedly will — what would be the cost of fences, buildings and fuel, 
where every stick was transported from three to fifteen milest by land 
carriage 1 Fuel, it has been said, can be obtained from the local deposi- 
tions of coal. It is true that Illinois and south-western Indiana, at least, 
constitute one vast coal basin. But any one possessing the slightest prac- 
tical acquaintance with the subject, knows that it requires associated, ag- 
gregate and corporate wealth, to carry on mining operations to an extent 
sufficient to steadily and efficiently supply a considerable market. Even 
in a level country where coal is covered with a deep superficial deposi- 
tion of earth, individuals may, where the stratum is cut through or uncov- 
ered in ravines or the beds of streams, quarry their own coal ; but such 
opportunities are rare. The idea that individuals would find it within the 
compass of their means to sink vertical shafts and raise coal — each one 
for himself — on the bosoms of the prairies, is utterly preposterous. Coal 
has never yet borne a price in our cities, which would justify even Compa- 
nies in lifting it by vertical shafts. Let the coal, however, be as cheap as 
it may be, at the points of excavation, the mere cartage of it, for the 
wants of a five-months winter — where the thermometer frequently indi- 
cates a degree of cold from 5° to 30^ below 0° — will be an onerous tax 
on agricultural industry. And canals can never furrow the bosems of 
most of those vast dry plains ; and ages must elapse before railroads will 
60 interlace them, as to bring coal cheaply within the reach of population 
scattered over their entire surfaces. 

If we suppose that adequate buildings can be constructed, with suffi- 
cient economy, with transported timber, the question still remains. What 
resource is there for fences 1 Fences of earth have been proposed, but these 
will not stand long enough to pay for building, unless their sides are con- 
structed at such an angle as would be wholly inadequate to " turn" sheep, 
Hedges, besides the other considerable expense of cultivating them, would 

* I have seen it stated that the seeds of the culiivated grasses would "catch " sown on the surface of the 
prinrie sod I That thej' would do this eftuctually and generally, is an assertion which no practical fanner 
will credil I -|f r- 

t Prairies wreMioifi- one to thirty miles in diameter. 



100 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

require Jences to protect tJieTn from animals, until they attained a consider- 
ble size ; and it is exceedingly questionable whether any good hedge- 
plant can be found, which is capable of resisting the rigorous and fickle 
climate of the North-western States. The different thoj-ns, and other plants 
used in England, have generally failed in all the Northern States. 

Timber mai/ be grown, both for fuel, houses and fences, by the proper 
planting, cultivation and protection of suitable trees — but the expense and 
delay attending this course would raise the prairies to, or above the price 
of New-York and New-England sheep lands. 

It has been claimed that the shepherd system will render fences unne- 
cessary, to any but a very limited extent, on the prairies. Now, while there 
is but here and there a settler on the margins of some of these great plains, 
and while a flock of sheep can constantly seek new pasturage, as the old 
fails, over a boundless range, without encountering another man's flock, 
sheep require so little looking after that the shepherd system is entirely 
feasible and economical, notwithstanding the high price of laboi'. Under 
such circumstances, one man, provided with a horse and a brace of dogs, 
can perhaps give the necessary attention to 1,000 sheep, and have some 
time for other occupations. But this state of things, terminated already on 
most of the prairies this side of the Mississippi, will soon be unknowTi 
even on those in the territories bordering on the Missouri and its west- 
ern tributaries. When wool-growers become to any degree numerous on 
the borders of the prairies, (as they certainly soon will, if these regions do 
possess any peculiar advantages for this branch of husbandry,) how are 
sheep to be kept separate, without that multitude of shepherds which the 
same services require in Spain, Germany, or Australia 1 — and whose labor 
and subsistence* would cost more, during a series of years, than the Jences 
in regions where wood and stone are plenty. 

If the sheep are not kept separate — if allowed to run promiscuously to- 
gether, how could the property of each holder be separated out of the vast 
general flock on a prairie five, ten or fifteen miles in mean diameter, for the 
purposes of slaughter, sale, washing, shearing, folding, or any other inci- 
dent of their husbandry 1 What protection would there be against whole- 
sale theft, when no man could count his scattered flock 1 What would 
prevent promiscuous interbreeding — and what object would it be, there- 
fore, to attempt to procure choice breeds, or improve those already pos- 
sessed"? What security would there be against those vagabond rams 
which the carelessness of some individual is always sure to let loose on 
a neighborhood, to beget lambs on every poorly-fenced farm, to perish in 
the storms of February and March H Finally, how could contagious 
and — unless promptly checked — highly malignant and fatal diseases, like 
the scab and hoof-ail, be met with the proper vigor, and treated with the 
necessary skill and care, among a multitude of holders scattered over miles 
of surface ; and supposing all the necessary vigor, skill and care brought 
into action, what would they all avail where it was impossible to sepa 
rate the healthy from the diseased — the cured from the sick ] | Let either 
of these diseases break out among a flock of ten thousand sheep, running 
together without inclosures, and any one familiar with their diagnosis and. 
ti-eatment, knows that if it were possible to drive them from the flock — 
which is extremely doubtful — it would cost far more than the value of the 



* Costing four or perhaps six times mgre in this than in the former countries. 

t It is questionable whether in a tiock running in common on a prairie, one ewe in ten would escape 
untimely impresnation. 

J Both of these diseases are susceptible of being: communicated from a diseased sheep to one but 
recently cured of them ; consequently, separation is the only safe and economical method, in large flocks, 
to prevent constant reinoculation. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 101 

sheep. True, these diseases have not yet visited, so far I am avi^are, the 
Western States. The scab is, in fact, but little known at present in any 
part of the United States. It may at any time, however, reappear.* The 
hoof-ail, after the fury of its first onset is over, assumes a milder form — 
one which does not lead to death, if remedies are applied but once or 
twice during a season — and for this reason, probably, it is allowed to 
linger in many flocks in the sheep-growing regions of the U. S. It is a 
strictly contagious disease, and one animal having it would rapidly innoc- 
late, in the hot weather of summer, by itself and others receiving the dis- 
ease from it, one or five hundred thousand sheep having access to each 
other. A few years since it was a stranger to tMs region. Like the small- 
pox when unchecked by vaccination, or any other contagious malady, it 
gradually progresses from neighborhood to neighborhood — from State to 
State. Good fences, confinement to the farm, and a rigorous system of 
exclusion of all strange sheep, may and do save many flocks from its vis- 
itation, but accidents and acts of carelessness are constantly occurring- — 
and so long as they continue to occur, this malady will continue its on- 
ward march. I consider it just as certain that it will visit and sweep over 
the North-western States, as I do that flocks are scattered along between 
those States and the present seat of the disease. And when it does visit 
them, if it finds any great flocks congregated on the prairies, not in a situ- 
ation to be immediately divided into small flocks, I venture to predict that, 
with all the care and attention which the sheep ^viU receive, the miserable 
animals, eaten while yet alive by maggots — and festering in loathsome 
rottenness, will perish in multitudes — by whole flocks. t 

Another objection to pasturing in common, would arise in the difficulty, 
if not impracticability, of establishing and enforcing an equitable system 
of joint occupancy, over or around a large prairie, so as to compel each 
farmer to regulate the number of his flocks and herds by the amount of cul- 
tivated pasture possessed by him. 

But if we concede all the preceding difficulties to be removable, or even 
removed ; if we suppose the great north-westera plains to be amply sup- 
plied with materials for building, fences, and fuel — there are two other dif- 
ficulties in the way of their becoming the best class of sheep-walks, which, 
from their nature are fixed, and, in the main, unchangeable. I allude to 
the scarcity of water, and the climate. 

On the " dry and rolling prairies " — those claimed to possess the greatest 
advantages for Sheep Husbandry — running water is scarce, frequently ex- 
tremely so. The occasional streams are shallow and sluggish. Washing 
wool on the back of the sheep, conduces, I think, to the health of the ani- 
mal. It causes the sheep to shear much more easily — brings the wool into 
a better marketable condition, and diminishes transportation. Streams of 
considerable depth and rapidity (where, what is better, falling sheets of wa- 
ter over mill dams, &c., cannot be found), are almost indispensable to an 
effectual performance of this process. Sheep, also, in many periods of 
weather, require water for drink. When they are confined to dry feed, it 
is indispensable, in the absence of that snow which is often, in the Eastern 
States, made a substitute for water. Neither are attainable during consid- 
erable periods each winter, on the praiiies, without resort to a pump — a 
son'y — and, (including the time of working it, when large flocks are to be 
watered), an expensive and troublesome substitute for running water. 
Finally, the climate of the Western and North-western States is more 

* Since writing the above, I have found, to my utter surprise, that this disease is within three miles of 
my own farm, in a flock driven into the country last fall. 

t A history of this disease and its gloomy diagnosis, when neglected, will be given in a subsequent 
Letter. 



102 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



varii' ''I' -— exhibits more sudden and greater extremes, than the climates of 
New- V'ork and New-England. The weak and easily prostrated muscular 
and vascular system of the sheep, will better endure great extremes of con- 
tinuous heat or cold, than rapid and marked variations in temperature. 
Subjected to the latter, cataiTh not violent enough to kill in its inflammato- 
ry stage, but assuming a chronic form — and followed by a slow and wast- 
ing debility, frequently attacks flocks. Sometimes it assumes an epizoo- 
tic and malignant character — as during the past winter — and sweeps away 
thousands of sheep. 

The isothermal line (or line of equal mean heat), does not vary particu- 
larly between the same latitudes in New- York or Wisconsin — or between 
Virginia and Missouri. But as we leave the ocean and other large bodies 
of water, the isotheral and isocheimal lines are found to diverge more 
and more from the isothermal one — and the range of the thermometer (the 
extremes of heat and cold indicated by it), rapidly increases. The follow- 
ing Table of temperatures, kept by officers in the Army, for a series of nine 
years, is from Doct. Forry's excellent work on the " Climate of the United 
States, &c."* It strikingly illustrates the fact asserted. The four points 
specified are in about the same latitude. 



Fort Wolcott. Newport, Rhode Island 


HigheM. 


Luwest. 


Atiniiat Haiiife 


85 
87 
96 

104 


+9 
—10 

—16 


78 
106 

120 




Council Bluffs, near the eontluence of ) 

the Platte and Missouri \ 



Doct. Forry states that the mean annual range of the thermometer at the 
following places, is as follows : at Fort Sullivan (Eastport, Me.) it is 104°, 
while at Forts Snelling (confluence of the St. Peter's and Mississippi in 
Iowa) and Howard, (Green Bay, Wisconsin,) in about the same latitude, it 
is respectively 119°, aiid 123°. 

At Fort Preble (Portland, Me.) Fort Niagara (near the mouth of the 
Niagara River, N. Y.), Fort Constitution (Portsmouth, N. H.) it is 99°, 
92°, and 97° ; at Fort Crawford, (confluence of the Wisconsin and Missis- 
sippi Rivers in Wisconsin,) on the same parallel, it is 120°. 

The above instances are not isolated ones. The same law is found — 
other things being equal — to generally prevail throughout our own, and 
perhaps all other countries. t 

While the cold of the Northern, and particularly the North-western 
States, so greatly exceeds that of the Southern States, few would be pre- 
pared for the proposition that the extremes of heat in the former, often 
reach points unknown many degrees farther South ! Yet such is the 
fact ! 

Fort Snelling, in latitude 44° 53', and occupying a central position in that 
vast territory lying between the Great Lakes and the Missouri, and between 
the 41st and 49th parallels of latitude — and which may therefore be pre- 
sumed, to a certain extent, to affin-d a type of the climate of that whole re- 
gion — feels a maximum summer heat of 93° — tite same with that of Wash- 
ington City, in latitude 38° 53', and Old Point Comfort, Va., in latitude 
37° 2'. At Fort Johnston, on the Coast of North Carolina, in latitude 34°, 
the maximum heat is but 90° ; at Fort Moultrie, in Charleston Harbor, 
in latitude 32° 42', it is also 90° ; at Fort Marion. St. Augustine, Florida, 



* See the above named work. p. 43. I am also indeotp't to Doct. Fon-j- for all the records of thermometri- 
cal ob.^erViition3, at the U. S. military po.sts, which are subst'quently quoted. 

1 Local excRptions exist, owing to the prevailini; winds and other causes. For example, Fort Howard 
ia much neai'er a large body of water than Fort Snelling. Altitude also exeita its inlluence. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 103 

in latitude 29° 50', it is 92° ; at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Florida, in 
latitude 27° 57', it is 92° ; and at Key West, the most southern possession of 
the United States, it is 89° ! 

It will thus be seen that the summer heat rises higher at Fort Snelling 
than at points on the sea-board more than 20° farther Soufh ! 

Now let us compare their winter temperature. The minimum tempera- 
ture of Fort Snelling is — 26°.* That at Washington is + 9°; Old Point 
Comfort + 20°; Fort Johnston + 28° ; Fort Moultrie + 21° ; St. Augus- 
ine + 39° ; Tampa Bay + 35° ; Key W^est + 52° ! So the greatest cold 
of Fort Snelling is 35° below that of Washington — the most northern and 
by far the coldest of these posts — and it is actually 78° below that of a j^ost, 
(Key West), which its summer heat exceeds hy four degrees ! 

At Foit Howard, latitude 44° 40', the seasons are even more violently 
contrasted. Its maximum heat is 98°, its minimum — 25. At Rock Island, 
111., latitude 41° 28' we have already seen that the maximum is 96°, the 
minimum — 10°; and at Council Bluffs, latitude 41° 45', the maximum 
104°, the minimum — 16° ! At Petite Quoquille, near New-Orleans, the 
maximum is but 94°, the minimum -f 30° ! 

And an examination of the monthly variations in temj)erature, at oui* 
North-western posts, will show that these are as excessive, in proportion, 
as those of the year — and their suddenness can scarcely be credited by 
an inhabitant of southern regions — more particularly those bordering on 
the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.t 

It cannot be said that Fort Snelling, or Rock Island, or Covmcil Bluffs, 
have the summers of Italy or the South of France — for the weather is 
much hotter at intervals, and is subject to far more frequent, abrupt and 
violent changes than in the latter : nor have these posts winters as mild as 
those of Europe, many degrees farther north.| And their winter exhibits 
the same sudden and violent changes which characterize the summer 
climate. 

These facts, in my judgment, fully explain the remarkable mortality in 
the flocks which have been canied on the prairies, and which is usually 
attributed to over-driving, poisoning, &c. The climate itself, though not 
always a rapid, will prove one of the surest o^ poisons, unless great care — 
much greater than is requisite even on the bleak and sterile hills of New- 
England — is taken to protect them fi-om its deleterious influences. 

Facts sufficient have been adduced, probably, to convince every South 
ern man how much he has to fear, ultimately, from prairie comjietition, in 
the production of wool. Having thus attempted to measure the capabili- 
ties of the various regions of our own country for the cheap production 
of this staple, it may be well to turn our eyes to the comparative advan- 
tages of other countries and nations — and to ask the question whether 
there is any danger to the domestic producer fi'om foreign competition. 
This can be done but briefly and rapidly in the limits which I have assigned 
to myselfl 

It will not be necessary for the purposes of the present inquiry, to ex- 
amine the climate, flora, &c., of all portions of the world. The avooI- 
producing countries — those which have natural advantages to enable them 
to produce wool cheaply enough, and in sufficient quantities, to stand any 
chance in the general competition, are mainly embraced in a belt or region 

[* It will be understood that the sign — before the number of dearees, indicates that it is that number of 
degrees hdmt Zero, and the sign -j- used here, in the preceding Table, and in the subsequent paragraph, to 
avoid confusion, signifies ahove. Zfro. ■ Puhlisker.] 

t In the Report of the Fishing Creek Agricultural Society, of your State, 1P43, the Committee actually 
complain of the variableness of the climate ! Truly, 'we can only judce by comparison !' 

% The mean winter temperature of North Cape in Norway, latitude 71°, is 23° 72 — that of Fort Snelling, 
130 95_that of Council Blafls, 240 47— that of Rock Island, 260 86. 



104 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH 

about 15° in width, on each side of and at varying distances from the 
Equator. The variation corresponds with the variation of temperatui'e ; 
in other words, the wool zone is bounded by isothermal instead of lat- 
itudinal hues. Commencing on the eastern side of each continent, in the 
northern hemisphere, between about 30° and 45°, it bears northwardly, 
and strikes their eastern shores, say between 40° and 55°. In the south* 
ern hemisphere, I am not aware that the isothermal deviations, in the 
corresponding parallels, have been noted — nor are they important, so 
small, comparatively, is the latitudinal area of the surfaces included be- 
tween them. 

Independent of minor deviations everywhere exhibiting themselves in the 
isothermal lines, more important local exceptions exist in many places, owing 
to elevation, proximity of bodies of water, prevailing winds, &c. Thus, south 
of latitude 30° in North America, the elevations of the Cordilleras give the 
mild weather of the temperate, and even the rigors of the frozen zone; 
and the same is true of the Andes of South America — in Bolivia, Peru, • 
Ecuador and New-Grenada — in the same latitudes, where, at the eastern 
foot of these declivities, the tropical sun burns up, as with fire, the verdure 
of the vast llanos of Brazil and Venezuela, and exhales death from the 
pestilent fens of Guiana, and the reptile-teeming marshes of the Amazon, 
The same exceptions exist on the Eastern Continent, wherever mountain 
chains rise to sufficient elvations to bring to bear this well known and uni- 
form law for the depression of temperature, albeit in tropical or sub- 
tropical regions. The steady and mild climate of the Atlantic Ocean, and 
its continual and peculiar motion on the west of Europe, preventing the 
ice, which the north wind wafts down from the Arctic seas, from lodging 
itself, or even approaching* those shores, strongly influences the cilmates 
of the British Islands and Norway, rendering them more temperate tlian 
others many degrees farther south in the interior of Europe and Asia. 
Eastern Prussia, and Polish Russia, are rendered disproportionably cold 
by tlie prevailing wind, which sweeps without resistance from the bosom 
of the Arctic Ocean to the Carpathian Mountains : and the north-east wind, 
laden with the frosts of Siberia, and untempered by the southern winds, 
from which it is cut off by the lofty Altay Mountains, carries a cold under 
which men, nay whole caravans,! perish in Persia, in the same latitude 
with Northern Africa, and the confines of the burning Sahara.^ The Cas- 
pian and Black Seas — Mounts Caucasus and Taurus prevent Asiatic Turkey, 
and Mount Hsemus, European Turkey — fi'om experiencing similar cold. 
The same wind entering Europe, reduces the temperature of its eastern 
considerably below that of its western confines ; and its effects are felt more 
or less westwai'dly, in proportion as its course is arrested by mountains. 
The climate of Silesia and Saxony is far colder and more mutable than 
than that of Bohemia, from which they are only separated by the Erzge- 
birge and Riesengebirge. In Northern European Russia, in Finland and 
the basin of the Dwina — in the same latitudes where Norway exhibits the 

" Malte Brun'a Geography — Art. Climate of Europe. t Sir Robert Kerr Porter. 

I From the delightful Arabian Nights — from the not less delightful strains of Lalla Rookh — from a thou- 
sand other sources, remembered and unremembered — song, fiction and Oriental tale — Persia always risea 
before fancy's eye a realm and clime of beauty : 

" deep myrrh-thickets blowing round 

The stately cedar, tamarisks, 
Thick roseries of scented thorn, 
Tall orient shrubs, and obelisks 

Graven with emblems of the time, 
In honor of fhe golden prime. 
Of good Haroun Alraschid." 
There are portions of Persia where the soil is rich and the climate delightful — but, as a whole, it is a bleak, 
sterile, unfruitful country — large portions of it covered with rugged mountains or saline deserts — with a 
climate remarkable for the rapidity and extent of its variations. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 105 

flora of Northern Germany — spirits freeze and quicksilver becomes malle- 
able. But it is unnecessary to continue this enumeration. 

Let us now take a rapid, view of the wool-growing countries embraced 
in the specified zones. And we will first complete the description of our 
own continent. 

Mexico — that portion of it north of latitude 30° — ^bears too close a re- 
semblance to our Western Territories conterminous with it, to require 
separate notice. 

But a small proportion of the great peninsula of South America is in- 
cluded between the 30th and 45th parallels of latitude, and adtaitting^ 
what seems probable, that the contiguity of two great oceans would so af- 
fect the climate as to carry the noithern line of the wool zone a little 
nearer to the Equator, this zone would still embrace but, say, two-thirds 
of Buenos Ayres, nearly all of Chili, the little State of Uraguay, a mere 
point of Brazil, and the north of Patagonia. 

The growing of wool has already been commenced on the vast pampas* 
of Buenos Ayres — though as yet to a but limited extent. In 1832, the ex- 
port of wool to Gi'eat Britain was 32,052 arrobas ;t but the same year 
the import of English woolens considerably exceeded it in value. The 
United States TaritF on foreign wools costing 7 cents per pound or under^ 
being then but 5 per cent, ad valorem, the importation of wool of that 
quality from the Argentine Republic^ into our country in the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1846, was 4,295,659 lbs., and of wool costing more thaii 
7 cents (paying a duty of 30 per cent, ad valorem^ and a specific duty of 
3 cents per pound) the import was 43,831 Ibs.jl 

The pampas resemble the North American prairies, being plains cov- 
ei-ed with wild grasses, and entirely destitute of timber. The land is di- 
vided by the Government into estates a league square (5,760 acres,) and 
sold at 10 cents per acre. Until recently the pampas were depastured al- 
most exclusively by horses and cattle, and so plenty and cheap were 
they, that they were frequently killed for their hides alone. The herds- 
men and shepherds live in miserable huts, and temporary folds are formed 
of the tmnks of peach-trees. Western or south-western winds called ^a?«- 
peros often sweep the country with destructive fury, and there are in- 
stances in which flocks of sheep have been forced by them into streams, 
and have perished. 

The inhabitants of the pampas are, on the north, the Gauehos — descend- 
ants of Spaniards — who, living in the saddle, and content to subsist on 
jerked beef and cold water — having few wants, and none which the lassQ 
will not supply — lead a life of wild and roving liberty. Tribes of mount- 
ed Indians, wild, predatory, and constantly at war with the Gauehos, oc- 
cupy the southern pampas. 

The facilities for producing wool here closely resemble those of the 
North American prairies, though wood is wanting over much more exten- 
sive tracts. The price of land on the pampas is less, but they are more 
remote from markets, as there is little or no manufacturing done in South 
America. Besides the cost of transportation, wool must pay, before reach- 
ing market, the duties levied by some foreign nation. The duty in the 
United States, by the Tariff of 1846, is 30 per centum ad valorem, with- 
out regard to quality, thus discontinuing that great discrimination in favor 
of the coarse article, which allowed a large proportion of the wools of 

* This wold, like Uanoa in the Northern States of South America, and prairies in the North-Westera 
United States, is applied to extensive p^din8. Those in the North of Chili are called pampas det sacramctkie^ 
t McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary. An arroba is lOU lbs. avoirdupois. 
J Buenos Ayres is so known in all the official documenta of the United States^ 
IJ Report of the liegieter of the Treasury, Dec. 184&. 

o 



106 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Buenos Ayres, Africa, Turkey, &cc., to enter our ports under a merely 
nominal duty. The present Tariff raised the duty on these wools to six 
times the former rate, i. e., on wools costing 7 cents, from 3^ mills to 2 cents 
and 1 mill per pound. This will make an important difference to the for- 
eign grower and exporter. If these wools continue, as hitherto, to be im- 
ported in the grease and dirt, from which state they lose about half weight 
in being bi'ought as clean as well washed United States wool, every pound 
of them so imported will actually pay a double duty, or 4 cents and 2 mills, 
half of this being paid for dirt. If, on the other hand, they are washed 
j^rior to exportation, a reduction of 50 per cent, in their weight will call 
for a corresponding advance in their price. Wool now costing 7 cents at 
Buenos Ayres or Smyrna, will cost 14 cents ; and if this is exported into 
the United States, it must pay a duty of 30 per cent., or 4 cents and 2 
mills per pound. It will be seen, therefore, that the lowest priced foreign 
wools cannot enter our country without paying about this duty (4 cents) 
per pound, unless under fraudulent invoices ; and this, as has been already 
shown, is half the cost of producing wool throughout a region of the United 
States much greater in extent than all that portion of South America in- 
cluded within the Avool-growing zone. 

The English duty on wools costing less than 24 cents is 1 cent per 
pound ; over 24 cents, 2 cents per pound. The French duty is 22 per 
cent, ad valorem, without regard to cost. 

The secmity of life and property is far less in Buenos Ayres than in the 
United States ; the character of the agricultural population less industri- 
ous, less skillful, and less methodical. Capitalists from other countries 
may, on account of the cheapness of the lands, make it profitable to pur- 
chase large estancias, and raise vast flocks of sheep ; and this has already 
been done by a few Europeans. But the pampas are subject to the same 
general objections* with the North American prairies, and when the con- 
tagious diseases, adverted to in speaking of the latter, once obtain a foot- 
ing on them, it is not difficult to predict how those diseases will be en- 
countered by the wild and, so far as agricultural labor is concerned, indo- 
lent Gaucho. The difficulty of encountering them, with the best skill and 
industry, under such circumstances — of preventing their unlimited spread, 
constant return and frightful mortality, on plains without inclosures, where 
flocks have access to each other, or straggling sheep from one flock are 
liable, by every-day casualties, to be thrown among those of another flock 
— has been stated. 

It is not improbable that while land remains so low, and the sheep 
healthy, the actual cost of production in Buenos Ayres will be somewhat 
less than in the United States ; but taking all things into consideration, and 
looking to the future, I would sooner advise any one, even in an exclu- 
sively economical point of view, to purchase the cheap lands of our own 
Southern States for the objects of Sheep Husbandry, than any part of 
South America. With the present duty and the cost of traiisportation 
against the latter, there is no fear that it can undersell, in our markets, 
the produce of the former. The 7-cent South American wools, washed, 
will cost 14 cents, and washing will add about 1 cent a pound to the cost.f 
Add another cent for agent's commission, and also the U. S. duty, and the 
wool is brought to 20 cents a pound, independent of freight and insurance, 
which will carry it, I should think, to about two shillings. The United 
States producer can furnish wool of much better quality than the coarse 
South American article, at this price, and realize a high profit. 

* Unless it be climatic ones. On this point I have po information. 

t This will be attended with much trouble on large portions of the pampas, as on our prairies. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 107 

But is it said that the 7-cent South American wool sold in our markets 
in 1845 and 1846, was not all coarse — that much of it was actually of a 
superior quality % This is true. Many of the bales were partly made up 
of an article ranging with American Merino and Saxony wools. But there 
is little doubt that, to say the least of it, in very viany such cases, if the in- 
voice of the wool was not fraudulent, nominally, it was rendered so, in 
reality, by a previous fraud. The viodus oj)erandi is said to have been as 
follows : A sends his agent B to Buenos Ayres with instructions to pur- 
chase the best lots of wool and pay their market price ; and he farther 
gives him secret instructions to re-sell these wools to C (a second agent) 
for 7 cents per pound, ostensibly in the ordinary course of business. The 
second agent C is subsequently sent out to buy, with no ivforviation of the 
mission of his predecessor; if he suspect the fraud, he has no direct knowl- 
edge of it, and having purchased wool for 7 cents which cost B 15 cents, he 
can invoice it at the former rate and support the invoice by his oath. 

I have no direct pifoof of an instance of this species of fraud. The 
commonness of such transactions, however, was claimed to be a matter 
of perfect notoriety, by individuals who had investigated the subject. 
Allegations of this kind have appeared again and again in the most 
public manner, and I have yet to listen to the first denial of them, public 
or private. Fraudulent invoices are no new thing in our commercial his- 
tory,* and the great discrimination made by the Tariff of 1842, in the du- 
ties on wool, offered the strongest temptations to them. The same kind 
of fi'aud may be still practiced, but the inducement to risk seizure for un- 
dervaluation is less where the diminution of duty is merely p>^'0 rata with 
the diminution of cost, and where getting the latter invoiced at as low a 
rate as 7 cents, is not followed, as before, by escape from a specific duty 
and a sudden descent oi jive-sixths in the ad valorcni one. 

I am free to confess, however, that it has always seemed to me that a 
determination to vigorously and faithfully discharge their duty in the 
premises, with a competent practical knowledge of the quality of the arti- 
cle, in the proper Custom-House officials, would always, in an unmanu- 
factured staple, and one so readily classified and valued as wool, be a suf- 
ficient safeguard against fraudulent undervaluation, to any extent, in the 
invoice. They might perhaps be undervalued one or two cents on the 
pound, without making a case strong and obvious enough to justify ap- 
praisers in legalizing a seizure ; but it is not for gains like these that pex'- 
juries would be ventured upon, or double agents and other expensive ar- 
rangements for the perpetration of more roundabout frauds, be found 
profitable. 

Not having room, within the limits of this letter, to discuss the capa- 
bilities of the Old World to compete with us in wool growing, I will 
reserve that subject for my next. 



* If any one dreams they are, let him read a speech on the Tariff made by Mr. Buchanan in the U. S. 
Senate in 1842 — another by Mr. Webster on ad valorem duties, made in the same body July 5.5, 1846, &c. 



108 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER IX. 

PROSPECTS OF THE WOOL MARKET— FUTURE DEMAND AND SUPPLY. - 

The Imports and Exports of Trans-Atlantic Nations... Means of ascertaining their Comparative Produc- 
tion. ..Table of the Imports of England. ..Amount of Wool grown in the United Kingdom, Consumption, 
Export, Facilities, including Soils and Climate, for its Cheap Production, and Prospect of its Increase or Dim- 
inution — Same of France— Same of Spain— Same of Italy — Same of Turkey in Europe— Same of Germany, 
including Prussia and Austria, with the exception of Hungary— Same of Hungary— Same of Russia— Same 
of Asia Minor — Same of Persia — Same of Independent Tartary — Same of Afghanistan and Beloochistan — 
Same of Thibet, Little Bucharia, and the remainder of China — Same of the Cape of Good Hope— Same of 
Austi-alia and Van Diemen's Land.. -Conclusions in regard to Comparative FaciUties, etc., of above Na- 
tions and the United States... The Northern States can compete with the most favored of them — and of 
course the South can, to much gi-eater advantage ... The South might safely embark in Wool-Growing, re- 
lying on the European Market alone ... Rapid Extension of that Market Past and Future... But the Ameri- 
can Wool-Grower is not compelled to seek a Foreign Market. . .Our Production does not meet the Demand 
of our own Manufactories... Table of the Imports of Wool into the United States.. .Table showing 
whence we Import Wool... Letter ftom Samuel Lawrence, Esq., showing the increasing call for Man 

ufactories The Stability of existing ones — and their ability to compete with those of Foreign Countries.. 

Extent of our Consumption of Woolens above the Supply made by our Manufactories.. .Table of Imports 
of Woolens. ..Probable Increase of our Manufactories.. .Reflections on the Taritf. ..Rapidly Increasing 
Consumption of our Population — Amount Consumed per head. . .Table of Increase of our Population... 
Future Increase... The Amount of Wool Necessaiy at various Future Periods. 

Dear Sir : Probably there are few men who now dream of any danger 
to the wool-grower of the United States, in the ho?ne market, from trans- At- 
lantic competition. But there is another point of view, in v/hich a glance 
at the facilities of the eastern nations, for the production of this staple, may 
not be uninteresting. May we not undersell them with the raw material, in 
their own markets ! He who carefully and intelligently examines all the 
facts involved in the solution of this question, will find, in spite of the vague 
popular impressions which prevail on the subject, that so far at least as 
those nations are concerned, which noio produce the greatest amount of 
the wool which supplies the markets of the Old World, the United States 
can, if satisfied with equal profits, easily undersell them. 

As an importer of the raw and exporter of the manufactured article, 
England occupies the first place. In these particulars, she probably ex- 
ceeds, by fully one-half, all the other nations of the Old World. France 
ranks next, and largely takes precedence of the remaining nations. Hol- 
land, though shorn, by disastrous political revolutions, of much of her an- 
cient importance in this class of manufactures, still maintains a trade of 
some magnitude. Several of the German and Prussian States export par- 
ticular descriptions of woolens ; Italy sends out some light cloths ; and 
Turkey the carpets of that name. A full exhibit of the exports of all the 
wool-producing nations, would not, of course, lead us to an accurate knowl- 
edo-e of the amount of their production — for there is no one which does 
not manufacture the raw material to some extent. But with what knowl- 
edore we can obtain of their manufactures, the former information would 
enable us to ascertain, approximately at least, the amount of their produc- 
tion. This is all that is necessary for our present purpose, for we do not 
now, in reality, so much seek their actual as \\\^\x comparative production. 

England, as I have before remarked, is the great importer and exporter. 
Her duties on imported wool are, as has been seen,* exceedingly low, and 
she makes no discrimination in this particular, in relation to bottoms, or 
the places of export.t The vastness and variety of her demand give a 

» See Letter VIII. 

t With the exception, of course, of her own Colonies, from which it is exported free. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 109 

greater certainty to the exporter of prompt and favorable sales, in her 
markets, than in those of any other nation. France possesses the advan- 
tage of maritime contiguity, for securing the raw product of the nations 
bordering on the Mediterranean ; and therefore, in some instances, as in 
the case of Turkey, she receives more of that product, in proportion to her 
manufacturing consumption, than England. But in one respect the latter 
has the advantage in securing the trade of the Levant. Between the na- 
tural products, and, of consequence, the exports of France and those of 
the other nations bordering on the Mediterranean, there exists a great simi- 
larity. She cannot send her wines to Hungary, nor these nor her silks to 
Italy, in exchange for wool. Her fruits, and indeed all of her natural pro- 
ducts are the same with those of the whole south of Europe. England, 
the producer, and the great mart of the products of Northern Eui'ope, can 
offer these in the Mediterranean on better terms than France ; and in the 
manufacture of cotton goods, the main article of dress, and consequently 
one of the great ones of import throughout the whole Levant, the former 
possesses a decided superiority. All these natural and artificial circumstances 
have their weight, sometimes in favor of one, and sometimes the other of 
these nations, in determining the course of trade — and habit, ancient com- 
mercial associaticms, and even national predilections also throw their weight 
into the scale. In looking at the subject as a whole, however, all these 
facts, unless in a very few instances, so far oftset each other, that in obtain- 
ing a view of the wool trade of England — her imports — we obtain a suffi- 
ciently accurate picture or index of the proportionable exports of all the 
nations of the Old World. 

Before proceeding to ascertain the actual facilities of the several coun- 
tries named in the Table, for the purposes of wool-growing, it may be well 
to briefly glance at that of England herself. 

Mr. Luccock* estimated the produce of wool in England and Wales, in 
1800, to be 393,236 packs.t or 94,376,640 lbs.; and in 1828, Mr. Hubbard | 
placed it at 463,169 packs, or 111,160,560 lbs. According to a Table 
formed by order of a Committee of the House of Lords, the same year, 
the quantity produced on an average of years, in England, is 111,160,560 
lbs. According to Mr. Luccock's estimate, (in 1800.) the number of sheep 
in England and Wales was 26,148,463. It is not thought to have varied 
much since. The Encyclopeedia Americana, || (published 1835,) on the 
authority of the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, sets down the then pi'esent 
number of sheep in the United Kingdom as follows : in Scotland 3,500,000 ; 
in Ireland probably under 2,000,000 ; in England and Wales the same 
number as in the time of Mr. Luccock; — so that the aggregate number 
would be about 32,000,000. It will thus be seen that England and Wales, 
with an area much less than that of Virginia, § have almost 7,000,000 
more sheep than the whole number in the United States in 1839 ! 

Large as is the amount of wool produced in the United Kingdom, it 
does not meet, in the number of pounds, the amount required for woolens 
consumed in the United Kingdom alone.^ It is true that England has 
exported some combing wool, of her own growth, to meet the wants of a 
certain class of manufactories (of worsted) in France, which could not ob- 
tain stock of equal quality in any other quarter ; and she has also exported 
considerable quantities of her own coarse short wools. Of the latter, I 
am ashamed to say, the United States have been considerable purchasers. 
The whole export of England, in 1824, amounted to but little over 18,000 

* See Luccock on Wool, p. 341 and Table. t A pack of wool is 240 lbs. 

t Quoted by Mr. Bischoff— See vol. ii., Appendix. || Encyclopaedia Americana— ort. Sheep Raising. 

% The area of Virginia is 70.000 square miles, that of England and Wales 60,000. 

IT See Bischoff, vol. ii., p. 171. 



no 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



lbs. From that time it has gradually increased, and in 1838 it reached 
5,851,340 lbs. ; in 1839, 4,603,799 lbs. ; in 1840, 4,810,387 lbs.* Under the 
last year of the late Tariff, we received from England, of wools not costing 
to exceed 7 cents per pound, 1,188,800 lbs., and of those exceeding 7 
cents, 28,406 lbs.; and from Scotland, of the cheaper class, 21,132 Ibs.t 
This, however, only shows a surplus in kind, not in quantity. The Eng- 
lish short wools have, as has been abundantly shown by the testimony 
of her most eminent manufacturers, | a harshness and want of felting j^rof- 
erties which render them unfit, unmixed with a better stamp of foi-eign 
wools, for any but the very lowest description of cloths and stuffs, such as 
blankets, baizes, army cloths, flushings or bearskins, &c. Nor will they 
make ^>rme articles, even of these low descriptions. England, therefore, 
after consuming such portions of these wools as she can, in the manufac- 
ture of the above-named and similar articles, and by mixing them, in the 
nature of an alloy, with better foreign wools in a low class of fabrics, such 
as flannels, livery and sergeant's cloth, etc., exports the balance to such 
nations as ^xe foolish enough to purchase it.|| 

The following Table, compiled from official sources, from Bischoff's 
" Comprehensive History of the Woolen and Worsted Manufactures, 
&€.,"§ gives the imports of England every fifth year from 1810 to 1840, 

TABLE No. 8. 



Countries fm.wkich Imp'ted. 

Russia 

Norway 

Denmark 

Sweden 

Prussia 

Germany 

Holland 

Belgium 

France 

Portugal 

Spain 

Gibraltar 

Italy 

Malta 

Ionian Isles 

Morea, &.c 

Turkey 

Syria 

Cape of Good Hope 

Africa, other parts 

St.Helena 

East Indies 

New Soulh Wales 

Van Piemen's Land 

Port Philip 

Swan River 

South Australia 

British America 

British West Indies 

United States of America. 

Guatemala 

Colombia. 

Brazil 

Rio de la Plata 

Chili 

Peru 

Mexico 

Guernsey and Man 

Total Pounds weight. 



1810. 



1815 



1820. 



1825. 



1835. 



32,149 

11.930 

351,741 

1.5,424 

12:i,057 

778,835 

2,873 



3,018.961 

5,952,407 

349,053 

21,554 

40,040 



29,717 



1,917 
2,894 



43,014 
73,159 



41,407 



297.t)ll 
40,984 

424,82L 
32,889 

105,073 
3,137,438 

432,832 

756,427 

1,146,607 

6,929,579 

12,891 

97,679 

55,804 



12,513 
23,363 



53 
8,533 



4,311 
41,527 



6,264 



75,614 

13,527 

107,101 
5,113,442 

186,051 

230,9119 
95,187 
3,536,229 
.3,t51 
2,815 
5,050 

189,.584 
13,869 

8,056 
99,415 



139 

760 
578 



4,277 

68,759 
14,792 



19,015 



1,992,101 

302 

554,213 

3,497 

131,100 

28,799,661 

1,059,243 

436.678 

953,793 

8,206,427 

19,250 

227,4.53 

72,131 

25,983 

513,414 

27,619 



323,995 



202,871 

179,717 

380 

713.246 

26,073,882 

939,123 

45,093 

461,942 

1,643,515 

9,461 



33,407 



4,024,740 

366,444 

1,431 

256,147 

23,79^,186 

C 301,8.55 

I 231.222 

104..535 

683,231 

1,602,752 

476.737 

1,051,005 

39,913 

816,625 
1,281,839 

191,624 
5.102 



C 973,331 
I 993,97! 



70 
80,468 



37 

331,265 

2 

14,313 

22,266 



1,725 
7,313 



1.148 
19,441 



5,741 
7,745 



295.848 
4,210,301 



14 

2.029 

237.306 



18,760 
962,900 



1,213,740 

246 



4,518,563 

605,521 

5,961 

24,646 

21,812,099 

46,247 

134,095 

48,830 

374,91.=i 

1,266,905 

242,734 

1,668,541 

2,209 

121,110 

42,893 

•655.964 

34,049 

751,741 

337,908 

4.683 

2.441,370 

( 6,215,329 

) 2,626,178 

78.';,398 

42,748 

51, .590 

15,793 

3,286 

115.095 

3,009 

842 

9.182 

616,721 

586,796 



11,830 



10.914,13' 



13.640.:i75 



9.789,020i 43,795,2811 32,313.0.59 



42,174,5321 46,224,781 



* BipchofF, Table 6th, Appendix. \ Report of the Secretary of fjie Treasury, 1846. 

t See Bischotf, vol. li.. pp. 107, 153, 1.54, 163, 173, 175, 176, <fec. The testimony here alluded to, or an 
abstract of it will be given in a subsequent Letter. 

II If these sound like strovg expresifions, I have to say that I shall be prepared to prove them, and shall 
80 do, in a subsequent Letter, from the testimony of the tir.'^t manufacturers of Ensland before a Committee 
of the House of Lords. Nor were the f\icts disputed by an interest represented before the same Committee, 
who had every inducement to do so, if they could be sustained in it 

^ See Appendix of the above work, vol. ii. Misled by the title on the cover, I have nowhere beS^re 
given the proper desicfnation to Mr. Bischoffs work. Where%'er the authority of this gentleman is given 
■you will uuderstand that it is derived from the work just named. Published London, 1842. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. Ill 

and therefore indicates, as well as the case admits of — home manufactures 
remaining the same — the rise or decline of wool-growing, in the several 
nations, for the period indicated. 

It will be seen from the above, that Spain, (and we may include the 
whole Peninsula,) once so famous for her wools, has sunk to a fifth or 
sixth rate wool-producing country, and that her exports are still constantly 
declining ; that Germany and Prussia have reached their climax, and are 
on the wane ; that Russia, Italy, Australia and the East Indies are the 
most rapid increasers. 

The high prices of land and provisions — nearly double those on the Con- 
tinent* (far more than double those on many portions of it) — the onerous gen- 
eral taxes and parochial assessments, will not allow wool to be grown in 
England for its own sake. The sheep must be reared, as a matter of pure 
necessity, to sustain her present system of convertible husbandry. A sheep 
fitted for that object, and to make the most meat in the shortest time, is 
the main desideratum. Wool is but a secondary consideration. None 
but the coarse, early maturing breeds will, therefore, ever be grown there. 
Unless some great revolution should take place in her Agriculture, these 
are not likely to ever materially increase or diminish from their present 
number. If any effect is produced on this husbandry by the abolition of 
the Corn-Laws, I think it will be to diminish rather than increase the num 
ber of sheep. 

France, especially in some of her Southern Provinces, is admirably 
adapted to Sheep Husbandry. In 1825, the number of sheep in the King- 
dom was estimated to exceed 30,000,000, but it is supposed to have mate- 
rially diminished since that period, by reason of the division of landed 
property, and other causes.+ With a population variously estimated from 
163-1- to 168 to the square mile,| a soil a fair portion of which is well 
adapted to the growth of bread-stuffs, and the remainder to the vine, fruits, 
the mulberry (for silk), etc., France finds it better economy to cultivate 
these, and draw a considerable portion of her supplies of wool from other 
countries — her fine wools from Germany and Spain, her coarse ones from 
the regions bordering on the northern shores of the Mediteiranean, the 
Gulf of Venice, and the Black Sea. France exported 84,799 lbs. of wool, 
costing less than 7 cents a pound, to the United States in 1846. || This 
small amount might have been of her own growth, or derived from her 
transit tirade. By the statistical Tables appended to his descnption of 
France, by Make Brun, it appears that of the 51,777,000 hectares§ which 
he estimates to comprise the surface, 22,818,000 are in arable land, while 
the entire extent of meadows and pastures (which are divided about 
evenly) but little exceeds 7,000,000 hectares.^ 

Spain, it appears from the Table, now exports less wool to England 
than Italy or Russia ! and is still (as late as 1840) on the decrease. This 
is not owing to the increase of her manufactures,** or by a diversion of her 
exports into other channels. The export to France would, undoubtedly, 
show a similar falling off. That to the United States is but nominal. In 
1836 it was but 20,730 lbs., ft and as this was wool costing less than 7 cents 
per pound, and came from the Mediterranean side of Spain, it was prob- 
ably in her ports merely m transitu. The Gibraltar trade, given in the 
Table, I take to be exclusively or mainly a transit one. From the Balan- 

* See Circular of John Maitland and others, Committee of the Woolen Trade in London— BischoflF, vol. 
ii., p. 33. t Bischott; Youatt. 

t Mitchell assumes the former, and Morse the latter to be the population. 

II Report of Secretary of the Treasury, 1846. § A hectare is 2 acres 1 rood and about 35-4 rods. 

il Malte Brun, Am. ed. vol. iii., p. 1029. 

** Spain is not estimated to manufacture more than one-tveentieth of the woolens cousnTned by her. Eu 
cyclopEedia Amer., art. Spain. tt Report Secretary Treasury, lb46. 



112 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

za MercantU* published by the Government, it appears that the exports 
of Spain of all kinds, in 1826, amounted to only c£l,587,507. The exports 
of raw and manufactured silk and gut reached =£243,390 ; lead, c£215,360 ; 
wines, c£189,340 ; wool, =£161,650 ; fiuits, c£152,075 ; brandy, 66107,715 ; 
barilla, 6679,200, etc. This exhibits not only the smallness of the entire 
export of wool, but the diminished comparative importance of this once 
great national staple. 

The number of sheep in Spain is still placed by many writers as high as 
10,000,000 for the migratory flocks, and 8,000,000 for the stationary ones. 
Even Mr. Youatt has fallen into this, as it strikes me, unquestionable error, t 
If Spain possesses 18,000,000 of sheep, what does she do with the wool, 
which should amount to at least 54,000,000 lbs. 1 Admitting — which prob- 
ably exceeds the fact — that her export to France and other nations equals 
that to England, and that she manufactures a quantity equal to twice her 
whole export, the aggregate amount would be less than 8,000,000 lbs. 
The author of the article on Sheep Raising in the Encyclopsedia Ameri- 
cana, places the number of the whole fine-wool sheep in Spain at 4,000,000. 
This I think high enough, and probably not far from the truth. This is a 
million less sheep than those of the State of New-York in 1839 ! 

The actual facilities for growing wool in Spain have already been al- 
luded to in my fifth Letter. I should not consider it necessary to bestow 
farther examination on them, were it not for the fact that owing to various 
associations connected with the early history of the Merino sheep, and the 
lead once taken by Spain in the production of fine wool, her facilities have 
been, popularly, prodigiously overrated, and even the difficulties under 
which she has labored for this husbandry, magnified into advantages. Her 
northern mountains are high, broken, cold, and exposed to peculiarly 
piei'cing north winds,| and the winter on them lasts, as I infer from Mr. 
Livingston, about six months. He says : |1 

" When the sevei'e w^eather commences on the mountains, tlie shepherds prepare to de- 
part, which is generally about the end of September and throughout the mouth of October, 
to seek more temperate climates and fresher pastures. In April or May, according as the 
season is late or early, they return to the mountains." 

It might be practicable to prepare hay for winter use, in favorable posi- 
tions, and particularly on t]\e parameras, on these mountains, and thus the 
migratory sheep might become stationary on them. But the Spaniard is 
too much wedded to ancient customs, too little in love with change of any 
kind, and, most of all, a change bringing an addition of labor, to thus in- 
novate on his own habits or those of his flocks. 

The high basins of the Douro and Tagus (embracing the two Castiles 
and Leon) are too valuable for the cultivation of grain, vineyards, fruits, 
etc., to be profitably devoted to the pasturage of sheep. The wheat of 
Spain is among the best in Europe, § and it is stated in Mr. Jacob's Tracts 
on the Corn Trade, that she frequently does not raise enough for her own 
consumption.^ For the vine, olive, fig, mulberry, barilla, and various 
other products of equal profit both for home consumption and for export, 
she is not excelled probably by any country in Europe. A friend of mine 
who traveled in Spain in 1845, describes the valleys above alluded to, as 
almost exclusively devoted to tillage crops. In the Southern Provinces, 



• Quoted by McCnlloch— Com. Die. art. Cadiz. 

t See Yoimtt on the Sheep, Lond. ei)., p. 147 ct supra. Mr. Livincston in his day estimated the migratory 
sheep at 5,0U0,0(J0, the stationary at 8,000,000. See Kssay on Sheep, pp. 36, 39. Mr. L. was also undoubU 
edly in error. | Malte Brun. || Livingston on Sheep, p. 36. 

^ Note by Pereival to Am. ed. of Malte lirun ; art. Spain. 

II Quoted by McCulloch— Com. Die. ; art. Odessa. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 113 

wliere rain does not sometimes fall for months in the summer,* the grass 
becomes entirely dried up, so that flocks, to be made stationary there, 
would require hay or other prepared food for several of the summer months 

The Transhumant.es or migratory flocks must still continue, then, to 
travel from the northern mountains to the warm basins of the Guadiana 
and the Guadalquiver for their winter quarters, and return to the moun- 
tains in the summer, or this branch of the husbandry would undoubtedly 
become extinct. The effect on the health and condition of the sheep, and 
the important item which it would form on the debit side of the account 
in Sheep Husbandry, to thus drive flocks a six weeks' jouniey twice a year, 
(consuming nearly a qvarter of the year on the road,) can be estimated by 
any one acquainted with such matters.t The losses and expenses thus in- 
curred would absorb all the profits of the husbandry, were it not for the 
extraordi^iary privileges conferred on the flockmasters (mainly consisting 
of the King, nobles and clergy) by the absurd and tyrannical regulations 
of the Conscjo de la Mcsta.\ The abolition of the " Council of the Royal 
Troop," there cannot be a reasonable doubt, would be immediately fol- 
lowed by the downfall of the migratory Sheep Husbandry in Spain. That 
the day has gone by when this unfortunate and distracted country can 
ever again enjoy the blessings of permanent peace and settled institutions, 
under which this or any other branch of husbandry can increase or steadily 
flourish, until she reaches a point of political civilization entirely incom 
patible with the continuance of a relic of tyranny and barbarism so mon 
strous as the Mesta, I consider equally certain. I see, therefore, no possible, 
or at least probable contingency under which the migratory Sheep Hus- 
bandry of Spain is likely to be extended, or even to permanently main- 
tain its present footing. Nor is there any probability of her again rising 
into importance as a wool-producing country, fi'om her stationary flocks. 

Italy, though too accessible to the dry, hot wind of Africa, (the Solano,) 
to exhibit the uniformity of deep-green verduie seen north of the Alps, is 
nevertheless — much of it — a country of fine pasturage. The great plain 
between the Alps and Appenines, the basin of the Po — including Lom- 
bardy, Sardinia, Parma, Modena, etc. — is one of the most productive in 
Europe, and its extraordinary facilities for irrigation allow five or six 
crops of hay to be mown in a single season. In Tuscany, the orange and 
lemon begin to make their appearance — the soil is alluvial and rich, and 
the mountainous districts are finely adapted to pasturage. The States of 
the Church are also highly fertile, and abound in good herbage ; and on 
the deadly Campagna di Roma, and even the Pontine Marshes, flocks and 
herds find an abundant subsistence in winter, and are driven to the Appe- 
nines in summer. The same remarks apply to the northern portions of 
the Kingdom of Naples. The southern extremity of Italy is exposed to 
a burning climate, and exhibits the vegetation of Africa. 

The whole superficial area of Italy does not exceed 122,000 square 
miles, and her population is 172 to the square mile. Scarcely raising 
bread-stuffs enough for her own consumption, taking one year with an- 
other,] | there is not the most remote prospect of her ever becoming an im- 
portant wool-exporting country. 

* See Hon. Wm. Jarris's Letter to me on the subject of Merino Sheep, when I acted as Corr. Sec'y of 
the N. Y. State Agricuhural Society — Transactions, 1841, p. 322. 

t Since giving this as the distance from " the middle of Estremadura to the Cantabrian Mountains " (Let- 
ter v.), I see it stated in the Ennyclopfedia Americana that "the whole journey from the mountains to the 
interior of Estremadura is reckoned at about 690 miles." Measurement on the map will show that it does 
not exceed 4 degrees or 277 miles, but the ditference may be made by the circuitousness of the route, or 
the writer may refer to more eastern portions of the gieat Appenine Chain. I find it stated by several wrv 
ters that each journey con-sumes six weeks. 

X For a description of this odious tribunal see Livingston on Sheep, p. 35. 

II See McCulloch's Com, Die. : art. Odessa. 



114 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Turkey both in Europe and Asia, it would appear from Table 8, is 
but a ti-ifling exporter of wool. It should be I'emarked, however, that the 
wools of the Western Provinces, and of Greece, are generally exported 
fi-om Trieste to France.* Under the late American Tariff, (" Tariff" of 1842,") 
the export to the United States was becoming an important one — much 
greater than that to England. In 1846, it amounted, of wools costing less 
than 7 cents a pound, to 5,744,328 Ibs.t European Turkey has a colder 
and less uniform climate than Italy, but still it is a fine one,i: and being a 
broken, mountainous country, well adapted to pasturage, and but sparsely 
populated, (55 to the square mile,) it is wonderful that so little attention 
has been paid to the culture of wool. But the proud and indolent Turk 
spurns all rural labor, or all interest in it, leaving it to his vassals — and 
these, destitute of any security to person or property, taxed, oppressed, 
liable to be compelled to make forced sales to bey or ayan — or, what is 
worse, their property seized outright — have little inducement to accumu- 
late a species of property so easily pounced upon.|| 

Germany (including Prussia and Austria) is now the great producer of 
fine wools, supplying not only her own manufactories — which are es- 
timated to consume half the whole product — but exporting the large sur- 
plus indicated in the Table. Nor is this all ; for to France, the Nether- 
lands, Switzerland, &c., she is supposed to export half as much as to Eng- 
land. § The whole region thus included — leaving out the Austrian States 
in Italy, which have already been considei-ed — comprises a territory of 
468,000 square miles, and a population of 58,800,000, or 130|- to the square 
mile. The country on the north is level, vast plains extending from tlie 
declivities of the mountains which occupy the center of Germany, to the 
North Sea and the Baltic. The center is mountainous, and its plains are 
very elevated. The exti'eme South is covered with mountains. From the 
Little Carpathian or Jablunka Mountains, and from the eastern termina- 
tion of the Styrian and Julian Alps, stretch away the vast Hungarian 
and Transylvanian plains to the confines of Turkey. 

The great northern plain of Germany is low, sandy, flat, often consist- 
ing of naked silicious sands or those covei'ed with lichens, interspersed 
with fre(|uent marshes, and terminating in many places on the Baltic in 
vast morasses, or land redeemed from the sea by dikes. As a whole, the 
land, particularly in the maritime Provinces, is of an inferior quality, but 
some poitions of it, as for example in Silesia and Saxony, is of a quality 
ranging from medium to good. The soil of Central and Southern Ger- 
many (including Austria) must, of course, exhibit many varieties. In gen- 
eral, however, it may be set down as productive in the valleys, and or- 
dinary or poor on the high lands. The lower plains of Wirtemberg, 
Baden, the South of Bavaria, etc., are exceedingly fertile. The plains of 
Hungary on the south-east not uncommonly exhibit soils of remarkable 
richness, but they alternate with inferior ones, and with vast and un- 
healthy morasses. Taken together, the region which I have included un- 
der the designation of Germany, though not a sterile country, is not 
favored with soils naturally as produclive as those of Italy or Spain; nor 
would it at all compare with that portion of the United States west of the 
Apalachians. 

The climate of Germany is thus summed up by Malte Brun :^ 

* Southey, qiKiteil by Bischoff vol. ii. p 356. t Report of th'' Secrctaiy of the Treasury, 18-tfi. 

t For (I ino'.ure of thig ns well us the other natural feinures of Turkey, both in F.urope and Asia, Greoce, 
and the Ionian Isles — as delicately accurate, as soft and rich as one of the scenes of Claude — see Childe 
Harold, C»nto II., the openinj of the Giaour, the Bride of Abydos, etc. Though this may be deemed a sin- 
gular, it is the vrrij bist reference, which my readinc; enables me to make. 

II See Urquhan on 'J'urkey and its Kesources, p. 139. § Encyclopedia Americana; art. ff'ool. 

i[ Am. ed., vol. ii , p 594. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 115 

" The climate of Germany is gi'eatly modified by the elevation and declivities of the coun- 
try ; but independently of that cause, it does not admit, from its extent in latitude, of any 
vague or general definition. It may be divided, however, into three great zones, and these, 
too, are susceptible of other subdivisions. The first is that of the northern plains, of which 
the temperature is not so cold as it is humid and variable ; they are exposed to every wind, 
while fogs and tempests are conveyed to this region from two seas. The north-west plain ia 
subject, fi-om its vicinity to the North Sea, to frequent rains and desolating hui-ricanes. The 
influence of the Baltic on the north-east plain is less powerful ; the climate, though colder, 
is not so humid and variable. 

The second general zone comprehends all the centi-al part of Germany The moun- 
tains in that extensive region fonn a barrier against the effects of the maritime climate. The 
sky is not obscured by mists, and the reg^ilar order of the seasons is not intcrrapted by 
winds and tempests ; but the elevation of the soil renders the climate colder than in other 

countries in the same latitude neai'er tlie level of the sea The third general zone is 

that of the Alps. The lofty bights and rapid declivities connect very different climates; 
thus the culture of the vine ceases in Bavaria and Upper Austria, and appears anew with 
fresh vigor in the neighborhood of Vienna. The eternal glaciers of Tyrol and Salsburg aie 
contiguous to the valleys of Styria and Carniola, covered with fields of maize or vineyards, 
and almost border on the olives of Trieste and the lemon-trees of Riva." 

Contlgtious mountains render the north of Hungary extremely cold. 
Farther south, the climate rapidly becomes warmer, and on the lower 
plains in the extreme south the heat is intense and the climate insaltibrious. 

The baucr or farmer in those States of Germany where the feudal ten- 
ures have been abolished, and the land is held in fee simple, owns four or 
five English acres of land. These men, says Mr. Jacob, 

" although placed above the pressure of want, or possessing the bare necessaries of life, 
have very little beyond them. Such as are industrious and frugal, by cultivating then- small 
portion of ground, may raise a sufficient quantity of potatoes for their own consumption, com 
for their bread, and provisions for two draught oxen. They all raise a small quantity of 
flax, and some few contrive to keep five or six sheep. It is often no easy matter for those to 
find occupation, who are desirous ot other employment in addition to the cultivation of their 
own laud, for no agricultural labor can be carried on during the long and severe winters. . . . 
It is rare indeed that they can afford to have meat of any kind, and those only who are 
more prosperous than their neighbors can keep a cow to provide themselves with milk." 

The wool raised by these owners of five or six sheep, is annually 
bought up by Jews and other traveling agents, who go from house to 
house to collect it. 

The following extracts from William Howitt's sprightly and interesting 
" Rural and Domestic Life in Germany " will show under what circum- 
stances a great portion of its wool is grown : 

" Here you look in vain for anything like the green fields and hedge-rows of England. . . . 
It is all one fenceless and plowed field. Long rows of trees on each side of the road are all 

that divide them from the fields The keeping up of the cattle presents you a new 

feature of rural life. Ai the quantity of land left for grass is very small, the grass is propor- 
tionably economized. The little patches of grass between woods and in the open parts of 
the woods, the little strips along the river-b;mks and even in gardens and shrubberies, are 
carefully preserved for tliis purpose. You see women in these places cutting grass with a 
small hook or smooth-edged sickle, and carrying it away on their heads in baskets for their 
cows. You see the grass on the lawns of good houses, on grass-plats, and in shrubberies, 
very long and wild ; and when you ask why it is not kept closer mown, the reply is that it 
is given to ihe milk-woman, often for a consideration, who cuts it as she wants it. You see 
other women picking the long grass out of the forests, or under the bushes on the hill-sides 

where the slopes have been mown, for the same j)urpose The children may be seen 

standing in the stream in the villages carefully washing weeds before they are given to the 

cattle Nettles, chervil, cow-parsnip, which in England are left to seed and rot, are 

all here cut for the imprisoned cow. You go down to the river-side to fish, and a peasant is 
soon with you, chattering and gesticulating, pointing to your feet and to the grass. It is to let 
you know that you are not to angle there, because it treads down tlie grass ; and accordingly, 
in Germany, with rivers full of fish, you seldom see an angler; if you, he is pretty sure to be an 

Englishman Not a sheep, a horse, or a cow is to be seen. . . . The mountain tops are 

covered with wood. The slopes are covered with vineyards. You ask where the cattle are ? 
You are answered, in the stalls. Where are the sheep ? Under the care of shepherds, 
somewhere — Heaven knows where ! you never come across them. It is only on the great 



116 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



plains of the North that you afterward find large flocks and herds, under the care of keepers, 
kept close together ; for as they have no fences, they are under the momentary peril of mak- 
ing ravages on their neighbor's crops." 

Between Leipsic and Berlin, on the plains of Saxony, Mr. Howitt first 
saw flocks of sheep in the field, and he says : 

" One thing which surprises an Englishman is to see what wretched creatures are the 

sheep which produce the famous Saxony wool In fact, it is a prevailing idea that 

the leaner the sheep the finer the wool. It is the wool to which all the attention of tlie gi-ow- 
er is devoted, and therefore, generally speaking, a more miserable assemblage of animals 

than a flock of German sheep is not to be seen On the plains they wander under the 

care of a shepherd, and for the most part on fallows and stubbles, to pick up odds and ends, 
rather than to enjoy a regidar pasture. You may see them penned on a blazing fallow, where 
not a trace of vegetable matter is to be seen, for the greater part of a summer day, which in 

this climate is pretty much like being roasted alive For what purpose they are here, 

except to starve and melt them into leanness, I never could discover. • . • • The sheep, be- 
sides being lean, are generally dreadfully lame with that pestilent complaint the foot-rot, and 
their keepers, apparently, trouble themselves very little about it." 

Mr. Howitt states that it is necessary to economize the land so closely, to 
sustain the population, in some parts of Germany, that the peasants actual* 
ly convey earth up steep hill-sides in baskets, and cover the rocks with it, 
to thus add to the tillable soil ! 

In reviewing the preceding facts, you are struck with no one which 
would indicate particular natural advantages for sheep rearing in the States 
of Germany, Prussia, and — with an exception presently to be named — 
Austria. The climate of the North is humid, fickle and tempestuous ; that 
of the middle cold with long winters. Neither possess any advantages 
over our own 'Northern States — and in some respects are decidedly inferior 
to them. This was the opinion of that eminent sheep-breeder and excel- 
lent man, Henry D. Grove, of this State, who was a native of Prussian 
Saxony, and who certainly would never be suspected by any one who 
knew him personally, of any want of partiality for anything pertaining to 
his Fatherland I In his letter to Benton and Ban-y on wool-growing, &c.. 
he says : 

" Ten years' experience has fully satisfied me on this point. In some respects, we possess 
natural advantages over Germany." 

In what particulars he awarded the preference to the United States, his 
letters and oral declarations to me, leave no uncertainty. It was both in 
soil and climate, and in instituting the comparison, he had his eye not on the 
most favored sections of our country, but on the hills of Rensselaer County 
in this State, where he resided. 

If in natural advantages we surpass Germany, how much more we do 
in artificial ones, may be estimated fi'om the preceding extracts from 
Messrs. Jacob and Howitt. To these general remarks portions of Hunga- 
ry form an exception. In these, the climate is fine, the soil rich, and, the 
feudal tenures remaining unabolished, the land is yet held in those large 
estates so favorable to Sheep Husbandry. Pnnce Esterhazy, the former 
Austrian Ambassador to England, says Mr. Paget,* owns an estate of some- 
thingmore than 7,000 square miles, including 130 villages, 40 towns, and 34 
castles. His sheep are said to amount to 3,000,000.t Other nobles own flocks 
of from ten to thirty thousand. The demi-savage Magyar serf, whose 
labor costs nothing, whose principal garment is a sheep-skin, and whose 
miserable and scanty food is more than half stolen,^ makes a most econom- 
ical shepherd ! Hungary lacks facilities for internal communication, and 
her convenience to the Mediterranean markets — excepting Turkey — so as 

* Paget'a Hungary and Transylvania, vol. i. pp. 46. t Youatt 

X See Paget's Huugary, &.c., p. \'i to 19. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 117 

to first throw her agricultural products into ports where the demand is good, 
is decidedly inferior to that of Italy, France and Spain. The Danube 
is the only natural outlet to her commerce — which, thanks to a liberality 
of policy on the part of Turkey,* contrasting most favorably with that 
of several enlightened nations t under similar circumstances, she enjoys 
without limitation. To reach Trieste, a long land caniage is indispensa- 
ble. Her exports too, are embarrassed by the imposts and narrow restric- 
tions of the Imperial Government. She cannot, therefore, export cheap 
heavy articles, such as provisions, to so great advantage as the Levantine 
nations : but every circumstance points to her as a country which should 
be one of the first on the Eastern Continent, for the production of wine, silk, 
wool, &c. 

Separated from Hungary and Transylvania only by the Carpathian Moun- 
tains and Turkish Moldavia, lie the fertile provinces of South-eastern Rus- 
sia, the basins of the Dniester, the Dnieper, and the Don. From the Car- 
pathians to the Caspian, across the entire extent of the plains of ancient 
Scythia, not an elevation which could be properly dignified with the ap- 
pellation of a mountain, breaks the immense expanse ! The lower valley 
of the Dniester or Borysthenes, formerly known as the Ukraine, has been 
celebrated for centui'ies for its pasturage — for its horses \ and cattle : and re- 
cently flocks of Mei-ino sheep have been introduced there and successfully 
crossed with the native variety. In 1839, Mr. Slade states that many of 
the colonists on the Steppe and in Bessarabia had 20,000 sheep. Merinos 
were inti'oduced into Crimea or Taurida, by M. Rouvier, a French ad- 
venturer, in about 1802. || In this favored peninsula, which the learned 
Pallas describes as little less than an earthly Paradise, they have multiplied 
exceedingly, and extended to Cherson, Fkatherinoslav, Bessarabia and 
other provincial Governments. § The export of wool from Odessa in 1829 
was 3,402 lbs.; in 1830, 21,361 lbs. ; in 1831, 35,058 lbs. ; in 1832, 41,558 
lbs.; in 1833, 66,457 lbs.; in 1834, 66,901 Ibs.^ 

In one respect Southern Russia has the advantage over Hungary. It is 
more sparsely populated, and land is perhaps in still lower estimation. As 
in the latter, the land, much of it, is fertile and well adapted to pasturage, 
and the price of labor is next to nothing. But for causes adverted to in the 
opening part of my eighth Letter, there is a wide disparity in the climates of 
the two countries, if we leave Crimea out of view. That of Russia, affect- 
ed by the north and north-east winds — which the Carpathians exclude from 
Hungai'y — has a winter which for length and intensity is entirely unequaled 
in the latter, excepting in its northern mountainous regions. Sheep must be 
housed, and fed for some months on dry food, in Southern Russia. Taking 
into view the broad, level stej)pes** and their luxuriant natural verdure — 
taking into view the climate, warm in summer, cold and exposed to winds 
of gi'eat severity in winter, it strikes me that there must be no inconsider- 
able resemblance between this portion of Russia and our own north- 
western prairies in corresponding latitudes (45° to 46°). But when the 
cost of land and labor is taken into consideration, wool can be produced 
cheaper, in my judgment, in South-western Russia than in Spain, France, 
Germany, Italy or any other portion of Europe, excepting Hungary, Were 

• This power is remarkable for its liberality in all its regulations which affect the trade and commerce of 
other nations. 

t e. g., the policy of England in relation to the navigation of the St. Lawrence. 

X This wild region and its horses have been rendered classic by Mazeppa. Who, that ever read, has for- 
got the description of the horse on which theHetman performed his fiery and perilous ride ! 

II For an interesting account of the adventures of this fortunate French Jason, see Slade's " Travels ia 
Germany and Russia," published London, 1840. 

§ See Slade's Travels ; also McCulloch's Com. Die. — art. Odessa, 

TT McCulloch's Com. Die. — art. Odessa. 

*■* This Russian word has a similar signification to prairie, pampas, llanos, &c. 



U8 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



European Turkey difFerently populated, and under different institutions, it 
might constitute another exception. 

Central and Northern Russia, like the States north of Germany, 
are north of the wool zone. Their winters are too long and severe to 
allow them to compete with regions lying farther south, in wool-growing. 
Asia Minor, or Turkey in Asia, and Persia have been alluded to — the 
former, much of it, a fine country with a most delightful climate, but its 
natural advantages all neutraUzed by its political systems and the charac- 
ter of its population — the latter, except in occasional favored positions, 
such as the valleys of Shiraz and Ispahan, a land of mountain and desert, 
of intense heat and intense cold. 

Independent Tartary, lying immediately north of it, is less exposed to 
the hot winds of Arabia, but more so to the freezing ones of Siberia. Its 
vast dry plains are usually deserts, excepting on the borders of its exceed- 
ly rare streams. Great Bucharia, however, in the south-east, on the head 
waters of the Amoo (Oxus) — from the Capital of which Timour (Tamer- 
lane) issued on his desolating path of conquest — is a country of great fer- 
tility. Its natural beauties constitute a favorite theme with the poets and 
geographers of Persia and Arabia. Since the opening of the navigation of 
tlie Indus, it has animally sent some wool to Bombay, which constitutes a 
part of that which is shipped thence to England, and is known in Table 
8 as East Indian wool. 

Afghanistan and Beloochistan, protected on the north from the Siberian 
winds by the lofty Hindoo Koosh mountains, and less exposed on the south 
to those of Arabia, exhibits a milder and less variable climate than that of 
the conterminous regions of Persia. Among the Highlands of the north, 
and those skirting the Indus on the east, there is much good pasturage. 
Sir Alexander Barnes states that four-fifths of the whole surface of Cabul, 
a Province of the former, is excellent pasture land. The wool of the broad- 
tailed sheep of these countries also finds its way, by the Indus, to Bombay, 
and is classed as East India wool in the Table. 

From the high, cold, mountain regions of Thibet, Little Bucharia, &c., 
some wools are exported, through the same channels, which come under 
the same classification. These countries also export shawl wool.* Most 
of China nortli of the great Desert of Gobi is a cold, mountainous country. 
The southern portion, or China Proper, is too densely populated and closely 
cultivated to be devoted to pasturage. 

The wool trade which followed the opening of the Indus (the raw ma- 
terial being supplied by Afghanistan, Great Bucharia, Thibet and some 
of the Hindostanese Provinces) might doubtless be swelled into one 
of great importance, particularly by introducing finer breeds of sheep; 
but we can scarcely expect this, from what we know of the habits, agri- 
cultural and commercial, of the population. Among constant politfcal 
changes wrought by the only Asiatic argument— the sword— the personal 
habits and occupations of the Asiatic remain ever the same, and are, per- 
haps, the best ty})e of persistency to be found in anything short of im- 
mol)ile matter. Indeed, the stony features of the Sphinx have changed 
scarcely less tbrough revolving generations, than have the ethnic ones of 
this great family of the human race ! 

Let us no\v pass to those regions of the Old World, south of the Equa- 
tor, included in the wool-growing zone. 

The southern extremity of Africa — the Cape of Good Hope — is included 

* Thn tableland of Thibet is elevnted 15,000 feet above the level of theeea. Mr Trail remarks thnt every 
nninial here, i.ioIu.Iimk Cnrniv,)ra, produce that dow-n under their hair which is known as shawl wool— 
Ihougti that manufactured comes mainly from a species of goat. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 119 



in the wool-growing' zone. The following description of it is by Rev. 
Robert Moffat, for twenry-ihree years a resident of it as the agent of the 
London Missionary Society :* 

" The Colony extends from west to east about six hundred miles, its average breadth being 

about two hundred Between the coast and the vast chain of mountains, beyond which 

lie the Karoo, the country is well watered, fertile and temperate. The other portions of 
the Colony, with few exceptions, and without a chan°:e in tiie seasons, appear to be doomed 
to perpetual sterility and drouth. The Karno country, which is iu the background of the 
Colony, is, as Lichstenstein correctly describes it, a parched and arid plain, stretching out to 
such an extent that the vast hills by which it is terminated, or rather which divide it from 
other plains, are lost in the distance. The beds of niunberless little rivers, (in which 
water is rarely to be found) cross, like veins, in a thousand directions, this enormous space. 
The course of them might, in some places, be clearly distinguished by the dark green of the 
mimosas spreading along their banks. Excepting these, as far as the eye can reach, no tree 

or shrub is visilile But even on these hills and sunburnt plains thousands of sheep 

pasture on a thin sprinkling of verdure and esculents The entire country, extending 

in some places hundreds of miles on each side of the Orange River, and from where it emp- 
ties itself in the Atlantic, to beyond the 24tli degree of east longitude, appears to have the 
curse of Gilboa resting upon it. It is rare that rains to any extent or quantity fall in those 
regions. Extreme drouth continues for years together. The fountains are exceedingly few, 
precarious, and latterly many of these have been dried up altogether." 

According to Barrow, nearly seven-tenths of the Colony are destitute 
of vegetation during a greater part of the year. Sand drives before the 
winds, exercising an unfavorable influence on sheep and wool. Lions, 
tigers, wolves, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, etc., are numerous on the very 
skirts of the settlements, making much vigilance necessary for the protec- 
tion of the sheep; and they must be nightly driven into the settlements to 
be folded. But the natives have proved a vastly more destructive enemy 
than these.t The sheep introduced by the English colonists will probably 
eventually considerably increase beyond their present number in a country 
of so great extent, but we are scarcely authorized to believe that the Cape 
will ever take a high rank among the wool-producing countries of the 
world. 

That great island, or continent, known as New South Wales, or Aus- 
tralia, has a superficial area equaling that of the United States. But a 
limited portion of it, however, is included in the wool zone. All of Van 
Diemen's Land, or Tasmania, is in that zone. The export of wool from 
these countries, as will be seen from the Table,| reached nearly ten million 
pounds in 1840 — nearly half that of Germany, including Austria and 
Prussia, and almost eiglit times that of Spain! Here, as at the Cape of 
Good Hope, there are no woolen manufactories, and being Colonies of 
England, their export to that country exhibits their tvhole production. 

The soil, products, &c. of Australia are thus spoken of by Mr. McCul- 
loch : II 

" The fertility of the soil in most parts of New-Holland that have been explored with any 
care, is veiy far indeed from coiTesponding with the glowing descriptions of some of its casual 
visitors, whose imaginations seem to have been dazzled by the magnificence of its botanical 
productions and the cleaniess and beauty of the climate. The truth is that the bad land 
bears a much greater proportion to the good in New-Holland than in almost any other coun- 
try with which we are acnuahited Of course it is not to be supposed luit that in a 

country of such vast extent there must be some fertile districts ; but along the east coast, with 
which we are best acquainted, these seem to be much more confined than might have been 
expected; and the little experience we have had on the west side, at Swan River and other 
places, does not seem to lead to any more favorable conclusions." 

After stating that if the Government price of lands " is not a great deal 



* Missionary Lnbors and Scenes in Southern Africa, pp. 23—24. tSee Letter V., and Note. 

J Including Port Philip, Swan River, and jJcuth Auatralia, the exports of which are carried out separately 
in Table 8. 

II McCulloch's Com. Die. — Art. Sydney. 



120 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

above the mark in New-Holland, it must be a great deal below it in Upper 
Canada," Professor McCulloch continues : 

"If the Americans exacted the same price for their public lands that we do, something 
might be found in favor of extending the principle to Canada. They, however, do nothing 

of the sort, but sell much better land at a decidedly lower rate If slaves could be 

imported into a Colony of this sort, there might be some chance of its succeeding. But while 
land of the very best quality may be had in the Valley of the Mississippi for about a dollar an 
acre or less, we think better of the common sense of our countrymen than to supjjose that 
any one able to carry himself across the Atlantic, will resort to Austialia." 

Of the climate he says : 

" The climate of such parts of New South Wales as have been explored by the English is 

pnrticulaiiy mild and salubrious On the other hand, however, it has the serious 

defect of being too dry. It seems to be subject to the periodical recuiTence of severe 
drouths. These prevail sometimes for 2, 3, or even 4 years together. The last ' gi-eat 
droutii' began hi 1826, and did not terminate until 1829. Very little rain fell during the 
whole of this lengtliened period, and for more than six months there was not a single shower. 
In consequence, the whole surface of the ground was so parched and withered that all minor 
vegetation ceased; and even culinary vegetables were raised with much difficulty. There 
was also a pretty severe drouth in 1835. This is the gi-eat drawback of the Colony ; and were 
it more populous the drouths would expose it to still more serious difficulties." 

Another drouth occuiTed in 1841, and Mr. Hood thus describes its ef- 
fects on the sheep : * 

" It will be scarcely believed in England that the estimated number of sheep which have 
died within the last twelve months in the Colony from catan-h and drouth is 70,000 ! ! that 
colonists are compelled in order to save the dam from starvation, to cut the throat of her 
lamb ; that no means are adopted for securing a stock of lambs for next year ; or that a 
stockholder would offer 8,000 sheep to any one that would remove them from his runs, and 
finding that no one could be prevailed upon to taint his own flocks by accepting so danger- 
ous a present, had i-ecourse to consuming them by fire, and had actually killed and burnt 
2,000." .... 

Of the country Mr. Hood remarks : 

" The first object on the arrival of every settler should be to procure a good country for 
his flocks, and this, I have elsewhere said, is his grand difficulty. Let him be wary on this 
point. Almost eveiy desirable or habitable spot in the old countries, as the early settled 
districts are called, is already occupied." 

Some diseases seem to be peculiar to the country, or, rather, peculiarly 
inveterate in it. Mr. Youatt says : t 

" The sheep frequently suffer from the wild and poachy nature of a considerable portion 

of the pasture. The foot-rot seems to assume a character of its own If neglected, it 

speedily becomes inveterate and preys upon and destroys the animal. The losses occasioned 
by it in the early existence of the Colony were frightful." 

The astringency of the water and other causes have produced severe 
epidemics. In some years, some of the flockmasters have lost half of their 
sheep.J The scab is a prevailing disease, and Doct. Lang says : || 

" When a convict shepherd has a pique against his master, or even against his overseer, it 
is often in his power to subject the whole of his master's flock to this obnoxious disease, 
merely by driving his own flock a few miles from their usual pasture, and bringing them 
into contact with a diseased flock. The chief source of the wealth and prosperity of the 
Colony is thus, in a gi-eat measure, at the mercy of the most worthless of men." 

The cost of both land and labor is comparatively {id est, compared with 
the txnoccupied lands of the United States) high. The Government mini- 
mum is 5s. ($1 15) per acre, but very little if any good land is sold at that 
price. Mr. Hood states that the portion of Capt. McArthur's immense 
estate which was obtained by purchase, cost, on the average, 7s. 6d. 
($1 721) per acre. Shepherds receive from c£15 to c£20 ($69 to 892) with 

* Quoted by Spooner in " History, Diseases, ifec, of the Sheep." London, 1844, p. 67. 
t Youatt on Sheep, p. 189. i See Spooner, pp. 417-421. 

II Lang— Historical and Statistical Account, vol. i., p. 351. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 121 

a liouse and rations, per annum ; overseers of a superior description c£50 
to c£60 (S230 to $276),* also with a house and rations.t 

The sheep are exposed to the depredations of various animals, but the 
wild dog is their most dangerous enemy, with the exception of the run- 
away convict. The sheep are therefore folded nightly, guarded by a 
watchman with his dogs, and with a fire to scare away the wild beasts.| 
One shepherd usually takes care of about 300 sheep, and " in the more 
sterile parts of the Colony, where three acres of the uncultivated ground are 
scarcely sufficient for the support of one sheep, the labor is very severe." || 

Mr. Samuel Lawrence recently wrote me : 

" I saw a gentleman from England a few months since who has an admirable flock in 
New South Wales, ot twenty-five thousand sheep, and he assured me he had not received a 
penny of income from them since 1838." 

Van Diemen's Land (containing 28,000 square miles) is claimed by Mr 
Youatt§ to be superior in several respects to Australia as a wool-growing 
country. Table 8 does not, however, show that its exports increase any 
more rapidly. 

Both of these Islands, as colonies of Great Britain, send their wool to 
the latter duty free, and they save 1 cent per pound on wool costing less 
than 24 cents, and 2 cents on that exceeding that value. But this by no 
means offsets against the additional cost of freight, over that exported from 
the United States, Hungary, or the south of Russia. While it is only 
3,375 miles from New-York to London, it is not less than 13,000 miles 
from Sydney or Hobart's ToAvn to the latter place. Professor McCulloch 
states (art. Sydney J that the expense of conveying a passenger to Sydney 
is about three times that of conveying one to Quebec. I see no reason 
why a coiTesponding difference should not exist in the freights ; and in 
that case, freights from the United States would be two-thirds less than 
from Australia. 

I pretend, Sir, to no power of vaticination on this subject, but the con- 
clusions which /draw from a review of all the foregoing facts are as follows : 

1. That wool-gi'owing is never likely to permanently and importantly^ 
increase in any of the countries of Europe, unless it be in Hungary, Tur- 
key, and the south of Russia. 

2. That it is more likely to decrease than increase in Great Britain, 
France, Portugal and Italy. 

3. That such a decrease is next to certain in Spain and Germany, (in- 
cluding Prussia and Austria in the latter,) excepting Hungary and Tran- 
sylvania ; that the decrease will be much more considerable in Germany ; 
that its rapidity and extent will be proportioned to the rapidity and extent 
with which the market is supplied from countries which can grow wool 
cheaper, such as North and South America, Hungary, Southern Russia, 
and Australia. 

4. That wool-growing will undoubtedly largely increase in Hungary and 
Southern Russia — and that it ought to in European and Asiatic l^urkey, 
but will not, extensively, until the character of the people and their po- 
litical institutions are changed. 

5. That it will also increase at the Cape of Good Hope, Australia and 
Van Diemen's Land ; but that its economical extension in either of these 
countries is limited, especially if America becomes a competitor. 

* Calling the English shilling 23 cents, according to Report of Director of U. S. Mint, 1827. 

t Report of a Committee, &c., quoted by Mr. McCulloch — Com. Die. ; art. Sydney. 

j Cunningham's Two Years in New South Wales, vol. i., p. 254. 

II Youatt on the Sheep, p. 188. § Quern vide, p. 190. 

i[ I say " importantly," because Sweden, Norway, Denmark, &c., in that spirit of rendering themselves in- 
dependent of foreign supplies, which characterizes all nations, may, and probably will extend their wool 
culture ; but it will be too unprovable a struggle against Nature, to be can-ied to a very great extent. 

a 



122 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

6. That no part of the Eastern Continent or its islands, all things con- 
eidiu'cd, possess equal advantages for wool-growing with some parts of 
the United States. 1. The climate of many portions of the latter (in the 
South) is not excelled hy that of the most favored situations in Hungary 
or Australia ; and in this respect it is decidedly superior to the south of 
llussia. 2. The soils of vast sections of the United States, with the above ' 
climate, are more uniformly fertile and adapted to pasturage than those of 
eilher Hungary or Southern llussia — and, as a whole, are entirely supe- 
rior to those of Australia. 3. The regions alluded to in the United States, 
are better watered with running streams than either of the other named 
countries — have not the vast and unhealthy morasses of Hungary — and 
are not subject to the destructive drouths of Austi'alia. 4. The land is 
cheaper in the United States than in Australia, and (my impression is) 
than in Hungary or Southern Russia ; and, in the Southern States, labor 
costs no more than in the two latter, and far less than in the former. 5. In 
accessibility and nearness even to the great European wool market, the 
United States stand on equal terms, at least, with Hungary and Southern 
Russia, and the distance from Sydney (in Australia) to London is nearly 
four times the distance from New-York to London. 6. In no resjyect do 
cither of these countries, the most favored in the Old World, excel, in my 
judgment, for the pui'poses of Sheep Husbandry, large portions of the 
United States ; and I believe those ])ortions of the United States can sell 
wool in the English market at a better profit on all the capital invested 
than either of the above countries, with the possible exception of the most 
favored portions of Hungary. 

Our surplus wools can, therefore, at any time, be exported to England 
at a rcasonahle ])rofit. This is true, even of wools grown in the Northern 
States. In 1S45, the United States exported wool, (mainly to England,) to 
the value of $22,153 ; and in 184G, to the value of $203,996. This was a 
commercial experiment, and although it is not understood to have resulted 
in any profit to the exporters, the wool sold at an advance on the Ameri- 
can prices current — and would have sold so as to have realized a handsome 
profit to the exjjorters, had it been properly sorted and otherwise prepai'ed 
to meet the requisitions of the English market. Statements of this kind 
have been published by one of the most prominent of the exporters. It 
would seem, from Mr. Lawrence's statement, already quoted, that the 
prices of Australian wools have not yielded a profit over all expenses, 
during the same years. The quality and style of our wool have been 
praised by the English press, and are understood to have given high satis- 
faction to the English manufacturers. On the whole, then, we may regard 
this experiment as a successful one. The American prices current of those 
years were about 32 cents per pound. We have seen that the actual cost 
of wool (including all expenses, and 7 per cent, on price of land and sheep) 
in the Northern States may be set down at about 27 cents per pound.* 
These facts show that a remunerating price can be obtained for even North- 
ern wool in England — if a profit on investment considerably exceeding 
the highest legal rate of interest (7 per centum) is to be considered " re- 
munerating." And if this is true of the Noithern wools of the United 
States, how much more so would it be of those of the South, the first cost 
of which has been estimated at less than one-tliird that of the former ! t 

I see not, therefore, a shadow of a reason why our Southern States 
might not embark, at once, with perfect safety, in an extensive production 
of wool, if they had only the foreign market to look to. I hesitate not to 



* Sue Letter V. t lb. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 123 



assert that they could drive all the European nations from the market, 
with the two or three exceptions heretofore specified ; and with these, as 
well as the most favored Austro-Oriental regions, tliey could main- 
tain a successful competition. The same remark is true of the Austro- 
Occidental regions of our own continent. And it is difficult to foresee 
the ultimate extent of this trans-Atlantic demand for wool. Vast portions 
of the Old World, in those zones where wool must eventually become the 
principal article of clothing, are but just stepping within the verge of 
civilization — just laying aside the skins and peltry of the pastoral nomad 
and the savage hunter, for garments of cloth. In 1771, England imported 
1,829,772 lbs. of wool ; in 1840, the import was 52,959,221 lbs. ! In 1771, 
the export of woolens was ei;4,960,240. In 1840, the export of woolens 
was, =£5,652,917, and of woolen and worsted yarn ^3,796,644. Making 
all necessary allowance for the difference in prices, the increase in the ex- 
port bears no comparison whatever to that in the import. What seems to 
be the unavoidable conclusion 1 It is that the consvmption of a population 
of 27,000,000 (the population of Great Britain and Ireland) has thus enor- 
mously swelled within the period o{ sixty-nine years ! This too in a coun- 
try with a mild climate — which at the beginning of that period (1771) was 
as far advanced in social and political civilization, and the mass -of whose 
people were as well clothed and better fed, than those of any nation 
on the Eastern Continent ! It is not necessary to follow up this idea. 
Progress is an inseparable condition of humanity,* and civilization is its 
fruit. With the latter, new wants — a demand for greater comforts and 
luxuries — steadily keep pace ; and with these again keeps pace the increase 
of population.! Both the latter causes conspire to swell the demand for 
cloths; and both causes are at work in this Nineteenth Century, in a ve- 
locity of ratio which would fill a Malthus and Ricardo with consternation — 
if, indeed, it did not convince them of the fallacy of their gloomy theories. 
I dare to predict that the time will come when the present Russian Em- 
pire will consume a greater amount of woolens than the whole Eastern 
Continent now does! This may not come to pass in a day or a century — 
but unless retarded by unnatural, not to say nnnsual causes, our posterity 
in the third or fourth remove will be likely to witness it ! Away, then, with 
those fallacious fears of over-production of cotton, bread-stuffs, etc. — the 
opposite extreme of Malthusianism — which have disturbed the repose of 
producers who are not content to let the great natural currents of demand 
and supply regulate each other ; or rather, who are not content with those 
fair and just profits which they would receive under such an order of 
things. I 

But the American wool-grower is not compelled to look to the European 
market, unless he enormously increases his own production — and contin- 
ues to increase it with the increase of the population. The Census of 1840 
shows that the number of sheep in the United States, in 1839, was nearly 
20,000,000. These have been steadily increasing, and probably now greatly 
exceed that number. Yet these have never supplied the demand of our 



* This may not be thought to accord with preceding statements in relation to the unchangeability of 
Asiatic character and customs. Particular families or races of mankind have always advanced slowly, but 
the course of the world, as a whole, is onward. The circle of civilization widens, and races which come 
in contact with it, receive it, or are conquered and absorbed by the civilized races. 

t When I speak of luxuries promoting the increase of population, I do not use the word in its invidious 
sense. 1 mean by it those things which, though not, strictly speaking, necessaries, tend to promote human 
comfort. 

t I mean this remark in no ultra spiiit. Governments must be supported and resnurces raised. Inci- 
dental protection may be justly ati'orded to the products of agricultural or meclianical skill, under cerlain 
circumstances. But the fewer of these restrictions that are found necessary, the more rapidly, as a general 
rule, the wealth and comfort of mankind and nations are advanced. 



194 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



own manufactories alone. The following Table* will show the value of 
the imports of wool into the U, S. from 1837 to 1847 : 

TABLE No. 9. 





Average im- 
ports ot 1837, 
1838 & 1839. 


Average im- 
ports of 1840, 
1841 & 1842. 


t Import of 
1843. 


Import of 
1844. 


Import of 
1845. 


Import of 
1846. 


Wool not costing 
to exceed 7 cts. 
a lb 


> $558,458 
801,087 


$759,646 
1.004,312 


$190,352 
54.695 


$754,441 
97,019 


$1,553,789 
136,005 


$1,107,305 
26.921 


Exc'dingTcts.alb 


Total 


Sl,359,545 


$1,763,958 


$24.5,047 


$851,460 


$1,689,794 


$1,134,226 



It may be a matter of interest to know from what countries these wools 
were imported. The following Table | will give this information for the 
last fiscal year, (1846,) and will also give a general idea of our wool trade. 



TABLE No. 10. 



Whence Imported. 



Russia 

Hanse Towns 

Holland 

Dutch West Indies 

Belgium • 

England ■ 

Scotland 

Gibraltar 

Cape of Good Hope 

Briti-sh West Indies , 

British American Colonies. 

F ranee 

Spain 

Italy 

Trieste (Austria) 

Turkey 

Morocco (Africa) 

Mexico 

Brazil 

Argentine Republic 

ChiU 

Peru 

Asia, generally 



Total . 



Wools not exceeding 7 cents 
per pound. 



Quantity. 



Pounds. 
955,163 
6,966 

10,774 

7,177 

1,188,800 

21,132 

207,006 

83,662 

8.694 

168,589 

84,799 

20,730 

81,156 

111.981 

5,744,328 

72,816 

425,148 

45, 215 

4,295,6.'')9 

1,819,772 

122,686 

94.5,729 



16,427,952 



Dollars 
60.678 
330 

556 

248 

35,944 

1,382 

12,339 

6,810 

537 

9,543 

5,424 

1,425 

4,720 

8,151 

398,822 

4,554 

26,984 

3,083 

327,572 

130,837 

8.588 

58,778 



1,107,305 



Wools exceeding 7 cents 
per pound. 



Quantity. 



Pounds. 



13,820 
170 



1,407 
28,406 



522 

39,346 

396 



43,831 



130,295 



Pounds. 



8,433 
93 



775 
6,668 



70 

4,562 

40 



6,011 



That the course of trade indicated by the above Table, will, as has been 
already intimated, be materially affected by the New Tariff, I think there 
can be but little doubt. That of several of the places enumerated, too, 
has been, heretofore, merely a transit one. 

To the following letter from the most extensive, and concededly leading 
American woolen manufacturer, I would call your particular attention. 
Several of its declarations, placed in italics, by me, are highly significant. 

Lowell, Mass., Feb. 10, 1847. 
Henry S. Randall, Esq., Cortland Village, N. Y. 

Mji Dpar Sir: Your very kind and interesting favor of the 27th ult. duly came to hand 
and should, if practicable, have received an earUer reply. The business of wool-gro\ving ia 
this countiy is destined to be of immense importance, and I am firm in the belief that within 
twenty-five years we shall produce a greater quantity than any other nation. 



* Compiled by me from Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

t The fiscal year 1842 ended on the 30th of September. Since then, the returns of imports and export* 
have been made up to the 30th of June. This year, therefore, embraces the imports of nine months only, 
ending on June 30, 1843; and Hubsequent years end 30th of June, 1844, 1845, and so on, 

J Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 1846. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 125 

You ask, " Is the present home demand supplied ?" There is not enough annually raised 
ill the country by 10,000,000 lbs. to meet the demand of the manufactones. 

You ask, " What countries we can export wool to. &c. ?" This country will not export 
wool regularly for fifteen years, for the reason that the consumption will increase as rapidly 
as the productio7i. I can point out articles made of wool now imported, which will require 
thirty millions of pounds of that of a medium and fine quality, to supply the consump- 
tion 

The business of manufacturing wool in this country is on a better basis than ever before, 
inasmuch as the character, skill and capital engaged in it are such that foreign competi- 
tion IS DEFIED. A very few years and all articles of wool used here will be of home manu- 
facture. 

Now I beg of you to keep the wool-growers steady to the mark. Let them aim to excel 
in the blood and condition of their flocks, and the day is not distant when they will be amply 
remunerated. I shall always have gi'eat pleasure in hearing from you, and remain 

Yours most truly, SAM. LAWRENCE. 

Mr. Lawrence has certainly got the annual deficit of home wools low 
enough. Table 10 shows that it was upward of 16,000,000 lbs. during the 
last fiscal year, 1846. This, of itself, is something of a viargin for the 
South, or some other new domestic producer, to fill ! 

Hitherto we have simply considered the amount of wool necessary to 
supply our mam/factories. But these establishments fall very far short of 
working up all the wool consumed in the United States, even exclusive of 
home-made fabrics. The following Table* will show the value of the 
woolens imported for twenty-five years, up to and including 1845 : 

TABLE No. 11. 



1821.. 


$7,437,737 


1826. 


$8,431,974 


1831. 


$12,627,229 


1836. 


$21,080,003 


1841. 


$11,001,939 


1822.. 


.12,185.904 


1827. 


. 8,742,701 


1832. 


.. 9,992,424 


1837. 


.. 8,500.292 


1842. 


.. 8,375,725 


1823.. 


. 8,268,038 


1828. 


. 8,679,505 


1833. 


..13.262,509 


1838. 


-.11,512,920 


1843. 


.. 2,472,154 


1824.. 


. 8,386,597 


1829. 


. 6,881,489 


1834. 


..11,879,328 


1839. 


..18,575,945 


1844. 


.. 9,47,5,762 


1825.. 


.11,392,264 


1830. 


. 5,776,396 


1835. 


-.17.834.424 


1840. 


.. 9,071,184 


1845. 


..10,666,176 



Here is another and still broader "margin" for both the American 
Wool-Groiver and the American Manvfacturer to fill ! 

With a country well adapted to the production of wool as any the sun 
shines on — which, all things considered, can produce it more clieafihj than 
any extended portion of any trans-Atlantic country — shall we continue to 
import raw wool ? 

Whether we should continue to import woolens is sufficiently answered 
by the last paragraph but one of Mr. Lawrence's letter, fully sustained as 
the facts therein set forth are by those infallible tests — the dividends of our 
manufacturing establishments. The minimum of these, in well managed 
establishments, has already been stated to be about ten per centum per 
annum,t and in Mr. Lawrence's own great establishment the dividend of* 
1846 was fifteen per cent. Does any one suppose that the manufacturers 
of England, with all the advantage they can derive from cheaper labor J — 
(but with vastly higher prices for suitable sites and buildings — land taxes, 
parochial taxes, income taxes — freights and duties on imported wools, 
etc. etc.) — do or can make dividends touching even the lowest rate above 
stated? They ca7j??o^. II 

* Report ofWe Secretary of the Treasury, 1845. f See Letter VII. 

X 'I'houfih not directly advised on the point, I take it for granted that the cost of machinery, also, is some- 
■what less in EngUmd. 

II It may be said that the two last-named expenses fall on the consumer. They doubtless would, but the 
EngUsh manufacturer has to compete with those of France and the United States, a much larger propor- 
tion of whose stock is of home growth— the latter entirely, in fine fabrics. The abrogation of the Corn-Laws 
■will be of immense advantage to the English manufacturer, and enable him to better compete with other 
countries. But while the Bank of England ordinarily discounts paper at from 3 to 4 per cent., and while 
this is the common rate of interest in that country, it could not be expected that manufacturing capital 
■would be allowed to draw 8 or 10, and much less 15 per cent. Such dividends, in a country whoso 
uninvested capital, or that drawing so low a rate of interest, is so superabundant, would at once invite a 
competition which would speedily bring the profits of manufacturing capital down to a \evel with those of 
other commercial capital. We may, therefore conclude that no such dividends are made. 



126 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Is it said that our manufacturing companies have often been com- 
pelled to suspend, or break up, even under laws as favorable to them as 
those now in operation ] The reason for this is too pointedly and perti- 
nently stated by Mr. Lawrence to require any addition at my hands, in 
the following extract from a letter to me, bearing date April 13, 1847; and 
it will be seen in the concluding sentence that the bold and manly decla- 
rations of his preceding letter were not the result of a casual or momentary 
coniidence, bat are deliberately reasserted : 

" The maiiufaclure of wool has often been disastrous to parties who have embarked in it 
fur many rensons, two of which are sufficient — a want of capital and a want of skill. These 
difficulries are being obviated. Capitalists are more ready to embark under certain auspices, 
and the amount of skill is very fast increasing, so that tliis branch is on a footing not to be 
moved." 

Undisturbed by those changes of vacillating legislation, or those move- 
ments in the National Legislature pointing to such changes — at one time 
enormously pampering the manufacturing interest, and leading to over- 
action and rash adventure — at another, threatening it with disaster and 
utter subversion — our manufacturers will steadily, nay, rapidly advance. 
If NOW LET ALONE, they wiU soon not only " defy foreign competition'" in 
the home market, but there is not a single good reason to prevent them 
from dcfijing it in the great and opening market of South America, and 
even in the Old World. Some evils or errors in commercial legislation 
are less to be deprecated than constant changes. The present Tariff, so 
far as it affects wool and woolens, is the result of a compromise of inter- 
ests. It may not be perfect in principle or detail. But it does not seem 
to flagrantly favor or oppress any interest. I speak not in the spirit of a 
politician, or of the representative of an interest or section, when I express 
the hope that no change toill he inade or attempted in this portion of the 
Tariff, until the lapse of years shall bring about other changes requiring 
it, or until ample experience shall clearly call for a revision of the system. 

I have spoken of two "margins" to be filled by the American wool- 
grower — the present deficit in supplying our own manufactories, and sec- 
ondly, the prospective one, as our manufactures increase, so as to overtake 
and then keep pace with the consumption of an increasing population. 
The demands of our manufactories will advance pari passu with the pro 
Auction, Mr. Lawrence predicts, for at least fifteen years. Why not foi 
fifty, or a hundred! Let us glance at the prospective consumftion, and see 
if, independent of exportations, it is likely to require any curbs or limits to 
be placed on production or manufacture. 

In the debates in Congress on the Tariff in 1828-9, Mr. Mallary esti 
mated the consumption of woolens in our country at $72,000,000 per 
ann. ;— $10,000,000 imported ; $22,000,000 manufactured ; $40,000,000 
home-made. The Committee of the " Friends of Domestic Industry," 
who met in New-York in 1831, reported that the proportion between the 
amount of wool worked up in factories to that in families was as 3 to 2 ; 
that the entire annual product of wool and its manufactures in the U. S. 
was $40,000,000. These are the only accessible published estinj^tes which 
now occur to me. 

The Census of 1840 shows that the value of woolens made in our manu- 
factories in 1839, was $20,696,999. The import of foreign woolens the 
same year was $18,575,945, and of raw wool* $1,359,445. It should be 
remarked, however, that the import of w^oolens is considerably higher than 
that of any year before or since. Taking the average of the same three 

* Taking the average product of 1837-8-9, as in Table 9. The separate import of 1839 is not before me. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 127 

years for which the import of the raw wool is given,* (1837-8-9,) it would 
reach but $12,863,051. If we suppose the consumption to equal the sup- 
ply, this would give $33,560,050 as the value oi \\\e factory-made woolens 
consumed in the United States in 1839. I confess I have no data other than 
conjectural ones, to determine the amount of the home-made manufactures 
for that or any other year ; nor do I know that any other person has, or can, 
have such information. The United States Census, singularly enouo-h 
does not include this as a separate item. It strikes me, however, that Mr. 
Mallary's estimate is too high, and that of the Report of the " Friends of 
Domestic Industry " too low. The proportion of home-made to factory 
woolens is, no doubt, annually decreasing, for reasons already stated ;t but 
as far back as 1839, it would perhaps be a fair estimate to set them down 
as even. This would give $07,120,100 as the value of the woolens con- 
sumed by a population of 17,009,453, or nearly $4 per head. Allowing 
that every dollar in the manufactured article would represent one pound 
of stock, or raw wool — and taking slave-cloths, blankets, carpets, coarse 
home-made fabrics, factory plains, etc., all into account, a dollar is an am- 
ple sum to offset against every pound of the raw material — it follows that 
our whole population annually consume four pounds of wool per head. 
Judge Beatty of Kentucky, in an estimate jiublished originally in the 
American Agriculturist, which has been much quoted, sets down the con- 
sumption as about 6 lbs. per head. An ordinary Northern farmer or la- 
borer, in comfortable circumstances, will consume about 20 lbs. per an- 
num ;f the poorer one not far from 15 lbs. ; a boy of 8 years old, full 4 lbs. ; 
a girl of that age (in the country, where females are dressed in woolens,) 
something more than half of that amount. In the cities and villages there is 
a large class whose consumption for dress ranges from 30 to 40 and even 50 
lbs., and, including carpets, much more. A Southern slave consumes from 
8 to 10 lbs. Four pounds, therefore, would not seem to be a high es- 
timate, per head, for our whole population. 

Let us now take a glance at the increase of population in the United 
States. The six different Censuses give the following results : 

TABLE 12. 



1790, Population y,929,827 

1800, 5,305,941 

1810 7.239,814 



1820, Population 9,638,191 

1830, 12,866,020 

1840 ]7. 069,453 



It will thus be seen that our population increases at a compound ratio 
of about three per cent, per annum, which would double it — assuming 
three per cent, to be the precise rate of increase — in 23 years 164 days. 

Cheap and abundant provisions — a supply of fertile lands for all who 
choose to occupy them, &c. — the causes which have con.spired to give so 
rapid an increase, hitherto, still operate to as great an extent as ever, and 
will continue to, at all events, for half a century, after the Census of 1840. 
Suppose the rate of increase, then, decreases to two per cent., which would 
double the population, reckoning as before, once in about 38 years, and 



* In Table 9. t Letter VIT. 

X He will wear out, durinff a year, 1 coat, 4 yards ; 1 pair pants. 3 yards; 1 vest, 1 yard ; 1 pair flannel 
drawer?, 2 yards ; 1 tiannel shirt, 2.J yards ; 4 pair hose, mittens, d-c , li lbs., which, calling a yard a pound 
of wool, all round, would amount to 14 lbs. His extra or holiday suit. 8 yards, will la.'^t 3 years, and bis 
overcoat, 6 yards, 4 years— making the annual consumption of both, 3 1-6 yards. 'JVo tiannel shirts, 10 
yards, will last two persons say 3 years, making the annual consumption of one, 1 1-9 yards. No account is 
hero made of covcilids, wool hats, carpets, still used by many, and the latter, more or less of it, to he found in 
the houses of nearly all farmers in •' comfortable circumstances." It will be seen that 20 lbs. of wool per 
head is a moderate estimate. The above enumeration would not equal to exceed two-thirds, and in some 
cases half the clothing annually consumed by the smartly dressing young men who have labored on my 
farm I 



128 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



-1 



that it doubles twice at this rate — and the following would be the result, 
and the amount of wool required by the population at the periods indicated ; 

TABLE No. 13. 



Year. 


Population. 


Amount of Wool. 
136,555,624 
273.111.248 


1 Year. 


Population. 


Amount of Wool. 


1863-4 

1886-7 


34,138,906 

68,277,812 


1925 

1963 


136,555,624 
273.111,248 


546,222,496 
1,092,444,992 



Thus in a little over one hundred years, our population is likely to ex- 
ceed the present one of Europe, (which is 233,500,000,) and we have now a 
sufficient territory to sustain it ! At 3 lbs. of wool per head the number 
of sheep requisite to supply the Jiome demand in 1963, would be over 
364,000,000 ! — far more than are now to be found on the whole globe ! — 
Such are some of the reasonahle expectations which may be formed of the 
future prospects of the Home wool market. 



•^S;t^ 



} 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 129 



^ LETTER X. 

! BREEDS OF SHEEP IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Enumeration of Imported Breeds. . -No indigenous ones " Native " Sheep — their Orifjin — Views of Mr 

Youatt — Mr. Livingston — their true Origin— their Early Im^reasein New-England.. Vanderdonk's description 
of the Sheep and their increase introduced from Holland into New-Netherland (New-York). ..Character- 
istics of the Native Sheep. . .Account of the Introduction of Merinos into the United States. . .Their valua- 
tion at dift'erent periods... The Spanish sub-varieties — Merged in the United States.. .Purity of blood of the 

descendants of the Early Importations.. .Spurious Merinos Weigltt of Fleece of the Spanish and French 

(Rambouillet) families. . .Description of the latter... American Fnmilies — their Characte istics.. Doctor Em- 
mons's Measurements of the Fineness of Wool of individuals of the American, Spanish, and French families 
—also of other breeds. -The Characteristics of the Merino — its Crosses. . .The Saxon Sheep — its Origin — 

Varietie-i — Treatment in Germany Introduction into the United States.. .Purity of blood in our present 

flocks — Weight of Fleece — Characteristics. . .The New Leicester or " Bakewell " — Origin — Character in 
England^Introduction into the United Stiites — Valuation in the latter — Characteristics. . .South-Down 
Sheep — Origin — Characteristics — Introduction into the United States- .Mr EUman's description of a perfect 
animal. .Cot^wold Sheep — Original Stock — Crossed — the improved variety— Characteristics of— Introduction 
into the United States.. Cheviot Sheep — Importation into the United States — Original Stock— Crossed — 
improved variety — Characteriotics... Broad-Tailed Sheep — Introduction into our Country — Characteristics. 

Dear Sir : It is believed by those competent to judge, and who have 
investigated the subject, that our counti-y now possesses every known breed 
of sheep which could be of particular benefit to its husbandry. In pro- 
ceeding to give an account of the sheep of the United States, I do not 
deem it necessary to take up your time with a detailed Jdstory of each 
race. The zoologist or breeder anxious to obtain this information, will 
find it given with great elaboration and accuracy, in the admirable work 
on Sheep by the late Mr. Youatt.* 

The principal breeds in the United States are the " Native," (so called) ; 
the Spanish and Saxon Merinos, introduced from the countries whose 
names they bear; the New Leicester or Bakewell, the South-Down, the 
Cotswold, the Cheviot, and the Lincoln from England. The common 
sheep of Holland were early imported by the Dutch emigrants who origi- 
nally colonized New-York, but have long since ceased to exist as a dis- 
tinct variety. The Broad-Tailed Sheep of Asia and Africa have several 
times been introduced from Persia, Tunis, Asia Minor, etc. 

Chancellor Livingston also speaks of two "races as 'indigenous' to this 
country, which we have not enumerated, as it is not known to the Com- 
mittee + that they are now bred in any portion of the United States, 
viz., the Otter and Smith's Island Sheep, breeds said to have been discov- 
ered on two islands on our Atlantic coast. An almost infinite variety of 
crosses have taken place between the Spanish, English, and ' native ' fami- 
lies. To so great an extent, indeed, has this been carried, that there are, 

* Also in Mr. BiscIioiTs. Spooner's, etc., (English) works, and Mr. Morrel's "American Shepherd" — the 
historical parts of all of which are compiled mainly from Mr. Youatt 

t At the Annual Meeting of the New-York State .■^gricuhural Society, 1837, a Committee was appointed to 
report at the next Annual Meeting of the Society, on the " Condition aii^l Comparative Value of the Several 
Breeds of Sheep in the Unhed States." The Committee consisted ot Henry S. Randall of Cortland, Henry 
D. Grove of Rensselaer, John B. Duane of Schenectady, Francis Rotch of Otsego, and C. N Bement of Alba- 
ny. These gentlemen were at the time breeders of all or nearly all the most important varieties, and it was 
expected that each would write that portion of the Report treating of the one or ones bred by himself The 
Committee, however, desired — or rather required me to write the whole Report, which I did. with the 
exception of quotations from authors. The Committee met in Albany, prior to the presentation of the Re- 
port, and the late Thomas Dunn and several other breeders were present by invitation. The Report was 
unanimously adopted by the Committee, and assented to by the breeders present. I do not now quote or 
adopt aH the conclusions of that Report Experience has compelled me to modify some of my opinions, 
und ar.tual chansfcs in the breeds have taken place But I have mentioned the above facts, to show the au- 
thority on which the statements which I have quoted, rest ; and also because the Report has been often 
quoted from, sometimes without any credit, and sometimes erroneously credited. 

[To save constant reference, it will be understood that all the matter quoted in this Letter from the Re- 
port will, unlike the cases where Mr. Randall quotes at any length from the writings of others, be printed 
in the same type with the body of the Letter, and simply marked with quotation points. Publisher.\ 

R 



130 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

comparatively speaking, few flocks in the United States that preserve en- 
tire the distinctive characteristics of any one breed, or that can lay claim to 
unmixed pm-ity of blood." 

Native Sheep. — " Although this name is popularly applied to the com- 
mon coarse-wooled sheep of the country, which existed here previously 
to the importation of the improved breeds, there is, properly speaking, no 
race of sheep ' native ' to North America. Mr. Livingston, in speaking 
of a race as ' indigenous,' only quoted the language of another,* and his 
informant was either mistaken as to the fact, or misapprehended the term. 
The only animal of the genus Oi-is Aries, originally inhabiting this coun- 
try, is the Argali,t known to our enterprising travelers and traders who 
have penetrated to the Rocky Mountains, where the animal is found, as 
the Big Horn.| Though the pelage of the Argali approximates but little 
to the wool of the domestic sheep, they are, as is well known, considered 
by naturalists to have belonged originally to the same species ; and the 
changes which have taken place in the form, covering, and habits of the 
latter, are attributed to his domestication, and the care and skill of Man 
during a long succession of years. 

" The common sheep of the United States were of foreign and mostly of 
English oiigin. The writer of the volume on Sheep in the ' Farmer's Se- 
ries,' [Mr. Youatt,] speaks of them as ' although somewhat differing in va- 
rious districts, consisting chiefly of a coarse kind of Leicester, originally 
of British breed.'|| Others have seen, or fancied they saw, in some of 
them, a strong resemblance to the South-Downs. Mr. Livingston was of 
this number.§ But it is far more probable that they can claim a common 
descent from no one stock. Our ancestors emigi'ated from different sec- 
tions of the British Dominions, and some portion of them from other parts 
of Europe. They brought their implements of husbandry, and their do- 
mestic animals, to fertilize the wilderness. Each, it would be natural to 
suppose, made choice of the favorite breed of his own immediate district 
to transport to the New World, and the admixture of these various races 
formed the mongrel family now under consideration. Amid the perils of 
war, and the incursion of beasts of prey, they were preserved with sedu- 
lous care. As early as 1676, Mr. Edward Randolph, in a ' Narrative to 
the Lords of the Privy Seal,' speaks of New-England as ' abounding with 
sheep.' "^ 

Vanderdonk, writing in 1790, thus speaks of the sheep introduced from 
Holland into New-Netherland (now New-York) by the Dutch emi- 
grants : — 

" Sheep are also kept in the New-Netherlands, but not as many as in New-England, where 
the weaving husiness is carried on, and where nnich more attention is paid to them than by 
the New-Netherlanders. The sheep, however, tln'ive well, and become fat enough. I have 
seen mutton there so exceedingly fat that it was too luscious and offensive. The slieep breed 
well and are heallhy; they find good pasture in summer, and good hay in winter; but the 
flocks require to be guarded and tended on account of the wolves, for which purpose men 
cannof be spnred. There is also a more important hindrance to the keeping of sliee[). which 
arc chiefly cultivated for their wool. New-Netheiland is a woody country thioughout, being 
almost everywhere beset with trees, stumps and brushwood, wherein the sheep pasture, 
and by whiaji they lose most of their wool. This is not api)areut until they are sheared, 
when the Heeces turn out vei-y light." 

" The common sheep yielded a wool only suited to the coarsest fabrics, 
averaging, in the hands of good farmers, from 3 to 3^ lbs of wool to the 



" Livingston's Kpsay on Sheep, pp t\C\ 60. t Godman's Amencan Natural History. 

\ The " woi'ly sheep " of the Koeky Mountains, the description of wliich is quoted by Mr Morrel, (Ameri- 
can Shepherd, p 131,) from Capt. Bonneville, is a ^oa^. It will be found described in Godman's Natural 
History, vol ii. p. 300, et supra. 

;) Vol on Sheep, p 134. § Essay on Sheep, p 53. H Colonial papers of Massachusetts. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



131 



fleece. They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared with the im- 
proved English breeds, and yielded when fully grown, from 10 to 14 lbs. 
of a middling quality of mutton to the quarter. They were usually long- 
legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on the breast and back, al- 
though some rare instances might be found of flocks with the short legs, 
and some approximation to the general form of the improved breeds. The 
common sheep were excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely des- 
titute of care, and without shelter, one hundred per cent, of lambs, and in 
small flocks a still larger proporti()n. These, too, were usually dropped in 
March or the earlier part of April. Restless in their disposition, their impa- 
tience of restraint almost equaled that of the untamed Argali, from which 
they were descended ; and in many sections of our country it was common 
to see from twenty to fifty of them roving, with little regard to inclosures, 
over the possessions of their owner and his neighbors, leaving a large por- 
tion of their wool adhering to bushes and thorns, and the remainder placed 
jearly beyond the possibility of carding by the Tory weed ( Gijnoglossum 
(ifficinah'J and Burdock (Arctium laj>pa) so common on new lands. 

" The old common stock of sheep, as a distinct family, have nearly disap- 
peared, having been universally crossed, to a greater or less extent, with 
the foreign breeds of later introduction. The first and second cross with 
die Merino, resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a variety 
exceedingly valuable for the farmer who rears wool only for domestic pur- 
poses. The fleeces are of uneven fineness, being hairy on the thighs, dew- 
lap, &c. ; but the general quality is much improved ; the quantity is con- 
siderably augmented ; the carcass is more compact and nearer the ground ; 
and they have lost their unquiet and roving propensities. The cross with the 
Saxon, for reasons which we shall hereafter allude to, has not been generally 
so successful. With the Leicester and Downs the improvement, so far as 
form, size, and a propensity to take on fat are concerned, is manifest." 









MERINO RAM. 
[Defiance, i7 months old, bred by and the property of Ilenry S. Randall.] 



132 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Spanish Merino. — " The history of this celebrated race of sheep, so far 
as it is known, has so often been brought before the pubhc that it is deemed 
unnecessary here to recapitulate it. The first importation of them into 
the United States took place in 1801. Four were shipped by Mr. 
Delessert, a banker of Paris, three of which perished on the passage.* 
The fourth arrived in safety at Rosendale, a farm owned by that gentle- 
man near Kingston, in this State. The same year Mr. Seth Adams, of 
Massachusetts, imported a pair from France. In 1802, two pairs were 
sent from France by Mr. Livingston, the American Minister, to his estate 
on the Hudson ; and later the same year, Mr. Humphrys, our Spanish 
Minister, shipped two hundred, on his departure from that country, for the 
United States." Hon. Wilham Jarvis, of Weathersfield, Vermont, then 
American Consul at Lisbon, sent home large and valuable flocks in 1809, 
1810, and 1811. The particularly favorable circumstances for obtaining 
the choicest sheep of Spain, under which these were procured, you will 
find detailed in a letter tome from Mr. Jarvis, dated December, 1841, pub- 
lished in the Transactions of the New- York State Agricultural Society of 
that year. Various subsequent importations took place, which it is not 
important to particularize. 

The Merinos "attracted little notice, until our difficulties with England led 
to a cessation of commercial intercourse with that power, in 1808 and 1809. 
The attention of the countiy being then directed toward manufacturing 
and wool-gi'owing, the Merino rose into importance. So great, indeed, 
was the interest excited, that from a thousand to fourteen hundred dollars a 
head was paid for them." Unfortunately some of the later importations " ar- 
rived in the worst condition, bringing with them those scourges of the 
ovine race, the scab and foot-rot. These evils and the increased supply, 
soon brought them down to less than a twentieth part of their former 
price ; they could now be bought for $20 a head. When, however, it was 
established, by actual experiment, that their wool did not deteriorate, as 
had been feared by many, in this country, and that they became readily 
acclimated, they again rose into favor. But the prostration of our manu- 
factories, which soon after ensued, rendered the Merino comparatively of 
little value, and brought ruin to numbers who had purchased them at their 
previous high prices. The lisfe which has since taken place in the value 
of fine wool, as well as the causes which led to it, are too recent and well 
undetstood to require particular notice. With the rise of wool, the valua- 
tion of the sheep which bear it, has of course kept pace. 

" The Merino has been variously described. This arises from the fact 
that it is but the general appellation of a breed, comprising several varie- 
ties, presenting essential points of difference in size, form, quality and 
quantity of wool." And writei'S of high authority differ even in their 
descriptions of these families or varieties. M. Lasteyrie, so celebrated as 
a writer on sheep, and particularly on the Merino, and Mr. Jarvis directly 
contradict each other on several points.t It is scarcely necessary now 
to quote their conflicting statements, or inquire which is right — as the ques- 
tions involved possess no practical importance. These families have, gen- 
erally, been merged, by interbreeding, in the United States and other 
countries which have received the race from Spain. Purity of Merino 
blood, and actual excellence in the individual and its ancestors, has long 
since been the only standard which has guided sensible men in selecting 
sheep of this breed. Families have indeed sprung up, in this country, ex- 



* Archives of Useful Knowledge. — Cultivator, vol. i. p. 183. 

t See Lasteyrie on Sheep— or, if not accessible — his statements quoted by Mr. Yountt, p. 356. For Mr. 
JarvU's statements, see his Letter to L. D. Gregory, quoted in American Shepherd, pp. 73, 74. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 133 

hiblting wider points of difference than did those of Spain. In some cases 
they doubtless owe it to particular courses of breeding — but more often, 
probably, to concealed or forgotten infusions of other blood. 

The point has, indeed, been occasionally mooted, whether there are 
any Merinos in the United States, descendants of the early importations, 
o? iinquesti onnhle purity of blood. That there are, has been recently defi- 
nitely settled by a connected chain of undisputable and undisputed testimo- 
ny,* not necessary here to be repeated. That, on the other hand, in the 
recent rush of speculation, a marvelous facility has been evinced, in some 
instances, in suddenly recollecting lost links in the chain of pedigree — or 
in forgetting others which it would not be expedient to remember, no one 
would require any proof who has seen some of the animals which have 
been hawked through the countiy as full-bloods. 

" Taken collectively, the Spanish rams, according to Chancellor Living- 
ston, yield about eight and a half pounds of wool, and the ewes five, which 
loses half in washing — making four pounds and a quarter the average 
weight of fleece of the rams, and two and a half the average of the ewes.t 
Some varieties considerably exceed this estimate, and probably it would 
fall short if applied to the prime sheep of any variety." 

The fleeces of the Merinos at Rambouillet in France, it is stated in the 
Report of M. Gilbert, to the National Institute, quoted by Mr. Living- 
ston, f weigh, in the rams, from twelve to thirteen pounds (unwashed) wool 
— taking rams and ewes together, it has " not quite attained to eight pounds, 
after deducting the tags and the wool of the belly, which are sold sepa- 
rately." Mr. Livingston remarks that the French pound is about one- 
twelfth heavier than the English ; but on the other hand, that from the man- 
ner of folding and housing sheep and feeding them on fallows in France, 
they are very dirty, and lose 60 per cent, in washing."|| This would bring 
the average of the Rambouillet flock to about four pounds, exclusive of 
tag and belly wool. 

M. Lasteyrie gives the following annual averages per head of the Ram- 
bouillet flock : 1796, 6 lbs. 9 oz. ; 1797, 8 lbs. ; 1798, 7 lbs. ; 1799, 8 lbs. ; 
1800, 8 lbs.; 1801, 9 lbs. 1 oz. — This is unwashed wool, and will lose half 
in washing. Mr. Livingston's imported ewes averaged 5 lbs. 2 oz. ; his 
rams 6 lbs. 7 oz., of unwashed wool.§ The later importations will, judg- 
ing from the specimens I have seen, average much higher than the latter. 
They are a large sheep, with good, but not the best, quality of Merino 
wool — some of the larger stocks being rather coarse — and not very uni- 
form, one with another, either in their appearance or fleeces — and are 
most remarkable for the loose pendulous skin which hangs about their 
necks, and lies in folds about their bodies. They are free from hair — 
their wool, which is of good style, opens with a creamy color, and rich lus- 
tre, on a fine rose-colored skin. Their wool is long on the back, shortish 
on the belly — thick, but not so thick as that of many of the American Me- 
rinos — very yolky, but destitute of concrete external gum. 

The American Merino has, as already intimated, diverged into families 
or varieties presenting wide points of difference. The minor distinctions 
are numerous, but they may all, perhaps, be classed under thi'ee general 
heads. The first, \s a large, short-legged, strong, exceedingly hardy sheep, 
carrying a heavy fleece, ranging from medium to fine — free from hair in 
properly bred flocks — somewhat inclined to throatiness, but not so much 
80 as the Rambouillets — bred to exhibit external concrete gum in some 

* This testimony will be found in a Letter from me to A. B. Allen. Esq., in the December No of the 
American Agriculturist, 1844, and in the Cultivator, I think, of the same date — if not, the succeeding No. 
t Livingston's Essay on Sheep, p. 39. t Ibid., p. 49, et supra. 

11 Livingston's Essay on Sheep, p. 51. § Ibid., Appendix. 



134 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



flocks, but not commonly so — their wool longish on both back and belly, 
and exceedingly dense — wool whiter within than the Rambouillets — skin 
the same rich rose-color. The ram on page 131 is a good specimen of this 
variety, though his age is not sufficient to give him the substance and com- 
P9,ctness of an older animal, and the apparent want in these particulars is 
hightened by recent shearing* His first fleece of well-washed wool, at 
thirteen months old, was. S lbs. ; was of beautiful quality, and entirely 
destitute of hair. At three years old he would have sheared from 10 to 12 
lbs. of well-washed wool.t 




MERINO EWE. 



The second general class of American Merinos are smaller than the pre- 
ceding — less hardy — wool as a general thing finer — covered with a black 
pitchy gum on its extremities — fleece about one -fourth lighter than in class 
first. 

The third class, which have been bred mostly South, are still smaller and 
less hardy — and cany still finer and lighter fleeces. The fleece is desti- 
tute of external gum. The sheep and wool bear a close resemblance to 
the Saxon ; and if not actually mixed with that l)lood,| they have been 
formed into a similar variety, by a similar course of breeding. 

C\vL?,& Jirst are a larger and stronger sheep than those originally imported 
from Spain, carry much heavier fleeces, and in well selected flocks, or in- 
dividuals, the fleece is of a decidedly better quality. The ewe from my 
flock — the portrait of which is given above — sheared 7 lbs. 10 oz. of well- 
washed wool. II The fibre numbered 1. in fig. 1, in the succeeding measure- 
ments by Dr. Emmons, is from this fleece. The fleece is exceedingly even 
and entirely destitute of hair. 

For the purpose of exhibiting the comparative quality of the wool of 



* The portrait, on the whole, is strikingly Bccurnte, but the skill of the artist does not compensate for his 
want of expeiienoe, in animal paiminc, in civing the anatomical details and expression of the countenance. 
The same remark applies to the portrait of the ewe. 

t This valuable animal died since the above ponrait was painted, and prior to his second shearing. 

J I ara not aware what pedigree is claimed for them. They are usually spoken of as Merinos. 

II i. e. — washed as clean as practicable in a brook, under a heavy sheet of falling water. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



135 



the American, Rambouillet, and early imported Spanish Merinos, 1 copy 
the following, from the pen of Ebenezer Emmons, M. D., State Geologist, 
in the American Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and Science, of which 
publication Dr. E. is the Editor. 

" Having given you a pretty full report of the farm and stock of Mr. Randall, embracirrg 
many details also in the several branches of husbandry, I now propose adding a few words 
as an appendix to that report. I gave some intimation, when speaking of the fineness of 
the wool of Mr. R.'s sheep, that on my return home I woidd i'umish something more exact 
as a test for fineness than the naked eye. In fulfillment of this intimation, I have been en- 
gaged since I returned, in measuring the diameter of the diflerent staples which I procured 
while at Cortlandville, and which I have compared with others obtained of our mutual 
friend, Luther Tucker, Esq., of the Cultivator. 

" The diiferent kinds are indicated by numbers. I have prepared a scale which is equal 
to 100 millimeters ; a millimeter is equal to 0-039 of an inch. The hundredth of a millime- 
ter,* and the fibres of wool, are all subjected to the same magnifying power of an excellent 
Chevalier's compound microscope. The comparison is both absolute and relative ; but it is 
highly interesting to see the perceptible difference between the diflerent fibres of wool. The 
microscope also reveals other differences ; some of the fibres appeared rather uneven or flat- 
tened, and destitute of a clear and distinct pith or tube ; and, in fact, I may remark that the 
microscope is really the best method of testing the real quality of wool." . . . 

Fig. 1. 




"No. 1, Mr. Randall's; No. la, fibre of Mr. Randall's prize Merino buck ;t No. 16, fibre 
from one of Mr. Randall's fleeces ; No. 2 and 2a, fibres from Mr. Reth Adams's wool ; No. 
4, Remilles wool, Shoreham, Vt. ; No. 5, fibre of S. O. Buichard's fine wool, Shoreham ; 
No. 3, fibre of Charles L. Smith's wool, Shoreham ; No. 6, fibre from CoUins's Grandee. The 
last five were taken from wool left at the Cultivator office. In all the fibres examined there 
is a great uniformity in the parcels ; only slight differences, in fact, could be detected in the 
several diameters. No. 7 shows the structure of wool as seen under the microscope. In 
the corner is the scale of measurement. The finest fibre as magnified in this cut is equal to 
about eighteen-hundredths of an inch in diameter. 

" x^nother inquiry equally important with the preceding came up in this place : What is 
the strength of a single fibre of wool, and is the coarser comparatively stronger than the fine' 
I set about answering those inquiries at once, and now give you the result below : 

" Mr. Randall's No. lb, on three trials, supported on an average 62 grains ; or, rather, 
broke when tried with the weight of 62 grains. 

" Mr. R.'s No. la broke with 57-1 grains. 

" The fibre from Collms's Grandee, on three trials, supported on an average 84-6 grains. 

" Mr. Smith's specimen of Shoreham, Vt., on three trials, gave an average of 65-6 grains." 

No. la is the wool of my ram " Premium," which received the first prize 



* About 1-2500 of an inch. 



t Taken from the animal by Doct. Emmons. 



]36 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IxN THE SOUTH. 



at the State Fair at Poughkeepsie, 1844,* and his fleece weighed 10 lbs. 
of well washed wool. 

No. 2 and 2a, (Mr. Seth Adams's wool,) were from the sheep imported 
by that gentleman. 

No. 6 was from Grandee, the best ram of Mr. Collins's Rambouillet im- 
portation. 

It will be observed, first, that the American wool is the finest, and 
second, its strength is greatest in proportion to its diameter. 

It will probably be as well to bring Doct. Emmons's subsequent meas- 
urements of the wool of other individuals and varieties together at this 
place, as to scatter them through the descnptions of the several breeds. 
It will render a comparison between them more convenient. I would re- 
mark that the cuts are copied from those of Doct. Emmons, with the 
strictest fidelity.t Indeed they are perfectyac shniles. 

Fig 2. 




" Figure 2 (scale of measurement same as in Fig. 1) exhibits the comparative diameters of 
the wool fibre of two premium Saxon sheep exhibited at the State Fair at TJtica, 1845. A 1 
is a fibre of wool from the shoulder of the 2d premium sheep (Mr. Church's) ; 2 do. from the 
flank. B 1, fibre from the shoulder of the first premium sheep (Mr. Crocker's) ; 2 do. flank. 

Fig. 3. 




\ 1 



u 



" Fig. 3, No. 1. fibre of Bakewell — about the average fineness of this kind of wool. No. 2, 
fibre ft'om Merino ewe belonging to Col. Sherwood, 3 years old (Blakesley sheep.') No. 3 
do. Mr. Bailey's ewe. No. 4 do. Mr. Atwood's. 

Fig. 4. 




" Fig. 4. — No. 5, fibre of Mr. Elhs's ewe, fleece weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. No. 6 do. Mr. Net- 
tleton's yearling Merino buck. No. 7 do. a sample from the imported 5 per cent. South 
American wool, which is seen to be nearly as fine as the best of our flocks. No. 8 do. Col. 



* This is the only time my eheep have ever been ehovm at a .''tate Fair, and I first made arrangements 
for exhibitina, in the expectation of having the privilege of comparing my sheep with the imported Ram- 
bouillets of Mr. Collins. Mr. C, however, declined my invitation to show. I received the first prize on 
rams, and the first and second on ewes. 

t Executed by William Rowland, of New York, whom I take pleasure in recommending to all wishing to 
obtain wood engravings, as an accurate and most obliging artist. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



137 



No. 9 do. finest Saxon wool in 
Fig. 5. 





Sherwood's three-year-old buck, sheared 8^ lbs. of wool 
market. 

Fig. 5. — No. 10, fine Ohio wool. No. 12, do. Saxon 
of the late Mr. Grove's excellent flock. No. 13, do. 
original imported Spanish wool by Seth Adams. No. 
14, Mr. L. A. Morrell's Saxon. 

The following cut, copied from Youatt, 
exhibits a fibre of Merino wool viewed iO IZ IS 14- 
both as an opaque and transparent object, with a microscope manufac- 
tured by Mr. Powell, of London. 

The serrations or " beards," which constitute 
the felting property of wool, are beautifully 
distinct and sharp. It was a picklock from a 
Negretti fleece, and Mr. Youatt says it is " very «-:-''^--^r^^-'^'ri-rt-^x-7^^ --*r3 
fine, being only the yl^oth part of an inch in i-.o^,J-,^Jicv,::s^^ 
diameter." By consulting Doct. Emmons's 

preceding statements, it will be seen that the wool of my prize ram " Pre- 
mium " is only about j-sVoth of an inch in diameter ! This forcibly shows 
the improvement which has been made on the Merino wool of Spain in the 
United States. 

" The Merino, though the native of a warm climate, becomes readily in- 
ured to the greatest extremes of cold, flourishing as far north as Sweden, 
without degenerating in fleece or form. It is a patient, docile animal, bear- 
ing much confinement without injury to health, and possesses none of that 
peculiar ' voraciousness of appetite,' ascribed to it by English writers.* — 
Accurately conducted experiments have shown that it consumes " a little 
over " two pounds of hay per diem, in winter ; the Leicester consumes from 
three and a half to four ; and the common wooled American sheep would 
not probably fall short of three. The mutton of the Merino, in spite of the 
prejudice which exists on the subject, is short grained and of good flavor, 
when killed at a proper age," and weighs from ten to fourteen pounds to 
to the quarter. " It is remarkable for its longevity, retaining its teeth and 
continuing to breed two or three years longer than the common sheep," 
and at least half a dozen years longer than the improved English Breeds ; 
" but it should be remarked in connection with this fact, that it is corres^ 
pondingly slow in arriving at maturity. It does not attain its full growth 
before three years old, and the ewes in the best managed flocks, are rarely 
permitted to breed before they reach that age." 

The Merino is a far better breeder than any other fine-wooled sheep, 
and my experience goes to show that its lambs, when newly dropped, are 
hardier than the Bakewell, and equally so with the high bred South- 
Down. The ewe is not so good a nurse, however, as the latter, and will not 
usually do full justice to more than one lamb. Eighty or ninety per 
cent, is about the ordinary number of lambs usually reared, though it 
often reaches one hundred per cent, in carefully managed or small 
flocks. 

" We have already adverted to the cross between the Merino and the 
native sheep. On the introduction of the Saxon family of the Merinos, they 
were universally engrafted on the parent stock, and the cross was contin- 
ued until the Spanish blood was nearly bred out." When the admixture 
took place with judiciously selected Saxons, it resulted not unfavor- 
ably for certain purposes. But unfortunately these instances of judicious 
crossing were rare. Our country was flooded by eager speculators, with 
the feeblest and least hardy Merinos of Germany. Fineness of wool during 



'Youatt, p. 149. 



s 



138 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the period of this strange excitement, was made the only test of excellence, 
no matter how scanty its quantity, no matter how diminutive or miserable 
the carcass. Governed by such views, the holders of most of our Merino 
flocks purchased these over-delicate Saxons, and the consequence was as 
might have been foreseen — their flocks were ruined." 






-^i^w, 








HO\AIL&WQ 'f'l 



SAXON RAM 



Saxons.—" In the year 1765, Augustus Frederick, Elector of Saxony, ob- 
tained permission from the Spanish Court to import two hundred Merinos, 
selected from the choicest flocks of Spain. They were chosen principally 
from the Escurial flock, and on their arrival in Saxony, were placed on a 
private estate belonging to the Elector, under the care of Spanish shepherds. 
So much importance was attached to the experiment, as it was then con- 
sidered, that a commission was appointed to superintend the aflairs of the 
establishment ; and it was made its duty to diff"use information in relation 
to the management of the new breed ; to dispose of the surplus rams at 
prices which would place them within the reach of all holders of sheep ; 
and finally, by explaining the superior value of the Merinos, to induce 
the Saxon farmers to cross them with their native breeds. Popular preju- 
dice, however, was strong against them, and this was hightened by the rava- 
ges of the scab, which had been introduced with them from Spain, and 
which proved very destnictive before it was finally eradicated. But when 
it became apparent that the Merino, so far from degenerating, had im- 
proved " in the quality of its wool, in Saxony, " the wise and patriotic efforts 
of the Elector began to reap their merited success, and a revolution took 
place in popular sentiment. The call for rams became so great that the 
Government resolved on a new importation, to enable them more effec- 
tually to meet it, and to improve still farther the stock already obtained. 
For this purpose an individual, considered one of the best judges of sheep 
in Saxony, was dispatched to Spain in 1777, with orders to select three hun- 
dred. For some reason, probably because he experienced difficulty in obtaiur 
ing;a greater number presenting all tlie qualifications he sought, he return- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 139 



ed with but one hundred and ten. They were from nearly all the different 
flocks of Spain, but principally the Escurial— and were considered decided- 
ly superior to the first importation. In addition to the estabUshment at 
Stolpen, already founded, others were now commenced at Rennersdorf, 
Lohmen, &c. ; schools were established for the education of shepherds ; 
publications were distributed by the commissioners to tlirow information 
on the subject before the people ; and the Crown tenants, it is said, were 
each required to purchase a certain number of the sheep." 

Mr. Spooner* states that there are two distinct breeds of the Saxon Me- 
rino sheep, the first " having stouter legs, stouter bodies, head and neck com- 
paratively short and broad, body round. The wool grows most on the face 
and legs— the grease in the wool is almost pitchy." The other breed call- 
ed Escurial have longer legs, with a long, spare neck and head, with very 
little wool on the latter, and a finer, shorter and softer character in its 
fleece, but less in quantity. The fleece in the Escurial averages fi'om one 
and a half to two pounds in ewes, and two to three pounds in rams and 
wethers, while in the others it is from two and a quarter to three and a 
quarter in ewes, and from four to six pounds in ram and wethers. These 
varieties cannot be amalgamated successfully. 

The preceding portrait is a favorable specimen of the Escurial Saxon, 
copied from a cut, after a drawing by Harvey, in Mr. Spooner's work. ^ 

That the German shepherds have sacrificed the hardiness of the Merino, 
and indeed almost everything else, for fineness of staple, there can be but 
little doubt. Their method of managing the sheep and its effects are thus 
described by Mr. CaiT, a large sheep-owner of Germany :t 

" They are always housed at night, even in summer, except in the very finest weather, 
when they are sometimes folded in the distant liiUows. but never taken to pasture until the 
dew is off the grass. In the winter they are kept within doors altogether, and are led with a 
small quantity of sound hay, and every variety of straw, which has not suffered from wet, 
and which is varied at each feed ; they pick it over carefully, eating the finer parts, and any 
grain that may have been left by the threshers. Abundance of good water to drmk, and rock- 
Bait in their cribs, are indispensables They cannot thrive in a damp climate, and it 

is quite necessary that thev should have a wide range of dry and hilly pasture of short and 
not over-nutritious herbage". If allowed to feed on swampy or marshy gi-ound, even once or 
twice, in autumn, they are sure to die of liver complaint in the following spnng. It they 
are permitted to eat wet grass, or exposed frequently to ram, they disappear by hundreds 
with consumption. In these countries it is found the higher bred the sheep is, especially the 
Escurial, the more tender !" 

Such are the common views of the sheep, and their treatment over 
Germany, Prussia, and Austria. Various statements of the methods adopt- 
ed by Baron Geisler, Graf Hunyadi, and other eminent flockmasters, will 
be found in Dr. Bright's Travels in Lower Hungary, Paget's Travels in 
Hungary and Transylvania, Jacob's Travels in Germany, &c. 

The qualities of the Saxons as breeders and nurses, may be inferred 
from the following regulations, for the management of his flock, by Baron 
Geisler.| 

" During the lambing period, a shepherd should be constantly day and night in the cote, 
in order that he may place the lamb, a soon as it is cleaned, together with its mother, in a 
separate pen, which has been before prepared. The ewes which have lambed should, 
during a week, be driven neither to water or pasture ; but low troughs of water for this pur- 
pose are to be introduced into each partition, in order that they may easily and at all Umes 
quench their thirst. It is also very useful to put a small quantity of barley-meal mto the water, 
for by this means the quantity of the ewe's milk is much increased. When the lambs are so 
strong that they can eat, they are to be separated by degrees from their mothers, and fed 
with the best and finest oats, being suffered at first to go to them but three times a day, 
early in the morning, at mid-day, and in the evening, and so to continue till they can travel to 
pasture, and fully satisfy themselves." 

* Spooner, p. 57. t Quoted by Spooner, p. 58. t Ibid., p. 59. 



140 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The following history of the introduction of the Saxons into the United 
States, was compiled by me from written memoranda, and the oral state- 
ments of Mr. Grove, submitted to the Committee of New- York State Ag- 
ricultural Society, already alluded to, of which I was Chairman, and was 
published in my Report, credited, of course, to Mr. Grove individually, as 
no other member of the Committee was conversant with the facts nar- 
i^cited.* 

" The first importation of Saxony sheep into the United States was made by Mr. Samuel 
Henshaw, a merchant of Boston, at the instance of Col. James Shepherd, of Northampton. 
They were but six or seven in number. In 1824, Messrs. G. & T. Searle, of Boston, import- 
ed 77 Saxon sheep. They were selected and purchased by a Mr. Kretchman, a correspond- 
ent of the above firm, residing in Leipsic, and shipped at Bremen on board the American 
schooner Velocity. I was engaged to tJike charge of the sheep on the passage, and I also 
Bhipped six on my own account. I am sorry to say that as many as one-third of the slieep 

i>urchased by Kretchman. (who shared profit and loss in the undertaking,) were not pnre- 
ilooded sheep. The cargo were sold at auction at Brooklyn, as 'pure-blooded electoral Sax- 
ons,' and thus unfortunately in the veiy outset the pure and impure became irrevocably mix- 
ed. But I feel the greatest certainty that the Messrs. Searle intended to import none but 
the pure stock — the fault lay with Kretchman. In the i'all of 1824, 1 entered into an arrange- 
ment wiih the Messrs. Searle to return to Saxony, and purchase in connection with Kretch- 
man, from IfiO to 200 Electoiul sheep. I was detained at sea seven weeks, which gave rise 
to the belief that I was shipwrecked and lost. When I finally arrived, the sheep had been al- 
ready bought by Kretchman. On being informed of what the purchase consisted, I protested 
against taking them to America, and insisted on a better selection, but to no purpose. A 
quarrel ensued between us, and Kretchman even went so far as to engage another to take 
charge of the sheep on their passage. My friends interposing, I was finally induced to take 
charge of them. The number shipped was 167, 15 of which perished on the passage. They 
were sold at Biightoii, some of them going as high as from $400 to $450. A portion of this 
importation consisted of grade sheep, which sold as high as the pure-bloods, for the Ameri- 
can purchasers could not know the difference. It may be readily imagined what an induce- 
ment the Brigiiton sale held out to speculation, both in this country and Saxony. The Ger- 
man newspapers teemed with advertisements of sheep for sale, headed ' Good for the Ameri- 
can Market -,' and these sheep, in many itistances, were actually bought up for the American 
market at five, eight or ten dollars a head, when the pure-bloods could not be purchased at 
from less than $30 to $40. In 1836, Messrs. Searle imported three cargoes, amouutmg in the ag- 
gregate to 513 sheep. They were of about the same cliaracter with their prior importations, in 
the main good, but mixed with some grade sheep. On the same year a cargo of 22 1 arrived, on 
German account, Emil Bach, of Leipsic, supercargo. A few were good sheep and of pure blood ; 
but taken as a lot they were miserable. The owners sunk about $3,000. Next came a cargo 
of 210 on German account; Wasmuss and Multer, owners. The whole cost of these was 
about $1,125, in Gennany. With the exception of a small number, procured to make a 
flourish on, in their advertisements of sale they were sheep having no pretensions to purity 
of blood. In 1827, the same individuals brought out another cargo. The.se were selected 
exclusively from grade fiocks of low character. On the same year the Messrs. Searle made 
their last importation, consisting of 182 sheep. Of these I know little. My friends in Ger- 
many wrote me that they were like their other importations, a mixture of pure and impure 
blooded sheep. It is due, however, to the Messrs. Seale to say that, as a whole, their im- 
portations were much better than any other made into Boston. 

" I will now turn your attention to the importations made into other ports. In 1825, 13 
Saxons arrived in Portsmouth. They were miserable creatures. In 1826, 191 sheep arrived 
in New-York, per brig William, on German account. A portion of these were well descend- 
ed and valuable animals, the rest were grade sheep. In June the same year, the brig Lou- 
isa brought out 173 on German account. Not more than one-third of them had the least pre- 
tensions to purity of blood. Next we find 158, shipped at Bremen, on Gennan account. — 
Some were diseased before they left Bremen, and I am happy to state that twenty-two died 
l>efore their arrival in New-York. All I intend to say of them is, that they were a most cu- 
rious and motley mess of wretched animals. The next cargo imported arrived in the brig 
Maria Elizabeth, under my own care. They were 165 in number, belonging to myself and 
F. (xebhard, of New-York. These sheep cost me $65 a head when landed in New-Y'ork. — 
They sold at an average of $50 a head, thus sinking about $2,400 ! I need not say that they 
were exclusively of pure blood. A cargo of 81 arrived soon after, but I know nothing of 
their quality. The next importation consisted of 184, on Gennan account, per brig Wan-en. 
With a few exceptions they were pure-blooded and good sheep. We next have an importa- 
tion of 200 by the Bremen ship Louisa. They were commonly called the ' stop sale sheep. 

* Mr. Morrel in his American Shepherd, quotes this bb a " Report " drawn and read by Mr. Grove, (one is 
left to infer,) before the New- York State Agricultural Society. This is doubtless an inadvertance. 



f 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 141 

They were of the most miserable character, some of them being hardly half-grade sheep. — 
The ship Phebe Ann brought 120 sheep, of which I know little; and 60 were landed at 
Philadelphia, with the character of which I am unacquainted. Having determhied to settle 
in America, I returned to Sa.xony, and spent the winter of 1826-7 in visiting and examining 
many flocks. I selected 115 from the celebrated flock of Macheni, embarked on board the 
ship Albion, and landed in New-York June 27, 1827. In 1828, I received 80 more iiom the 
same flock, selected by a friend of mine, an excellent judge of sheep. I first drove them to 
Shaftsbury. atljoining the town of Hosic, where I now reside. On theii' arrival they stood 
me in $70 a head, and the lambs half that sum." 

" It will be inferred from the facts above stated that there are few Sax- 
on flocks in the United States that have not been reduced to the quality 
of grade sheep, by the promiscuous admixture of the pure and the impure 
which were imported together, and all sold to our breeders as pure stock." 

And independent of this, there are but exceedingly few flocks which 
have not been again crossed with the Native or Meiino sheep of our coun- 
try, or both. Those who early purchased the Merino, crossed them with 
the Native ; and, when the Saxons aiTived, these motigrels were bred to 
Saxon rams. This is the history of probably three-quarters of the " Sax- 
on" flocks of the United Stales, and among them some, as / know, among 
the most celebrated. 

As these sheep have now so long been bred towai'd the Saxon that their 
wool equals that of the pure-bloods, it is exceedingly problematical in my 
mind whether they are any worse for the admixture : when crossed only 
with the Merino, it is undoubtedly to their advantage. Though I once 
thought diff'erently, experience has satisfied me that the American Saxon, 
with these early crosses in its pedigree, is a hardier and more easily kept 
animal than the pure Escurial or Electoral Saxon. As with the Merino, 
climate, feed, and other causes, have doubtless conspired to add to their 
size and vigor ; but, after all, I have not a doubt they usually owe more 
of it to those early crosses. 

The fleeces of the American Saxons weigh, on the average, from 2 or 
2\ to 3 lbs. They are, comparatively speaking, a tender sheep, requiring 
regular supplies of good food, good shelter in winter, and protection in 
cool weather from storms of all kinds ; but they are evidently hardier than 
the parent German stock. In docility and patience under confinement, 
late maturity, and longevity, they resemble the Merinos, from which they 
are descended ; though they do not mature so early as the Merino, nor 
ordinarily live so long. They are poorer nurses ; their lambs smaller, fee- 
bler, and far more likely to perish, unless sheltered and carefully watched. 
They do not fatten so well, and, being considerably lighter, they consume 
an amount of food correspondingly less. 

Taken together, the American Saxons bear a much finer wool than the 
American Merinos ; but Dr. Emmons's measurements show that this is 
not always the case, and many breeders of Saxons are now crossing with 
the Merino, in the expectation of increasing the weight of their fleeces 
without deteriorating its quality.* Though I am in possession of wool 
from Saxons in Connecticut and Ohio, which compares well with the 
higher grades of German wool,t and though there are doubtless other 
flocks of equal quality in the country,| our Saxon wool, as a whole, falls 
considerably below that of Germany ; and I never have seen a single lock 
of the American equaling some samples, given me by a friend recently 



* Mr. Lawrence believes this practicable, and Mr. Morrel and various other Saxon breeders have for 
some time bred in this way. 

t Fully equaling, and, 1 think, better than some German wool I recently saw, which, all expenses in- 
cluded, stood the purchaser in $1 60 per pound ! 

X Dr. Emmons stated, subsequently lo his measurements above, that he had received wool from the 
flock of Dr. Beekman. considerably finer than the Saxon wool figured. 



142 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



from Europe, which came from Styria, south of Vienna, in Austria. The 
inferiority of the American to the German wool is not due to climate or 
other natural causes, nor is it owing to a want of skill on the part of our 
breeders. It is owing to the fact that but a very few of our manufactur- 
ers have ever felt willing to make that discrimination in prices which would iil 
render it profitable to breed those small and delicate animals which pro- II 
duce this exquisite quality of wool. No American breeder thinks of hous- 
ing his sheep from the summer rains and dcio, or observing any of the hot- 
hovse reo^ulations — at least in the summer — of Graf Hunyadi, or Baron 
Geisler ! If he did, his wool would not probably pay half of its first cost. 
When our manufacturers wish to find these wools in the Jiome. market, 
they must learn to pni/ for them in the Itome market as liberally as they 
are comi)dled to to obtain them in foreign ones ! 




THE NEW LEICESTER, OR BAKEWELL. 



The portrait above is copied from one of a sheep of this variety, belong- 
ing to the Duke of Bedford, given in Mr. Youatt's work on Sheep. 

" The unimproved Leicester was a ' large, heavy, coarse-wooled breed' 
of sheep, inhabiting the midland counties of England. It is described also 
as havino- been ' a slow feeder, and its flesh coarse-grained, and with little 
flavor.' The breeders of that period regarded only size and weight of 
fleece. The celebrated INlr. Bakewell, of Dishley, was the first who adopt- 
ed a system more in accordance with the true principles of breeding. He 
selected from the flocks about him those sheep ' whose shape possessed - 
the peculiarities which he considered would produce the largest propor-* 
tion of valuable meat, and oftal,' and having observed that animals of me-" 
dium size possess a greater aptitude to take on flesh, and consume less 
food than those which are larger, and that prime fattening qualities are 
rarely foimd in sheep carrying a great weight of wool, he gave the prefer- 
ence to those of smaller size, and was satisfied with lighter fleeces." To 
reach the wonderful results obtained by Mr. Bakewell, it was supposed 
that he resorted to a cross with some other varieties, but it is believed by 
some that he owed his success only to a judicious principle of selection, 
and a steady adherence to certain principles of breeding. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 143 

It is exceedingly unfortunate that this eminent breeder has left us so 
much in the dark in relation to those principles of breeding, adopted by 
him, which led to such signal success in his efibrts to improve both the 
cattle and sheep of the region in England in which he resided. All of his 
measures wei"e veiled in impenetrable secrecy even from his most intimate 
friends, and he died without voluntarily throwing the least light on the 
subject. The whole inception and management of his famous " Dishley 
Society"* betrays selfishness the most intense, and, in plain English, mean- 
ness the most unalloyed. Should a man claiming to be a gentleman, in 
this country, make valuable discoveries in breeding, or in any other de- 
partment of husbandry, and closely conceal them from the public, his con- 
duct would meet with universal reprehension and contempt ;t yet the thing 
seems to be considered a matter of course, or is at least passed over with- 
out censure, in Youatt, Spooner, Bischoff, and a host of earlier writers, 
all of whom laud Mr. Bakewell to the echo ! 

" The improved Leicester is of large size, but somewhat smaller than 
the original stock, and in this respect falls considerably below the coarser 
varieties of Cotswold, Lincoln, &c. Where there is a sufficiency of feed, 
the New Leicester is unrivaled for its fattening properties, but it will not 
bear hard stocking, nor must it be compelled to travel far in search of its 
food. It is, in fact, properly and exclusively a lowland sheep. In its ap- 
propriate situation, on the luxuriant herbage of the highly cultivated lands 
of England, it possesses unrivaled earliness of maturity ; and its mutton, 
when not too fat, is of a good quality, but is usually coarse, and compara- 
tively deficient in flavor, owing to that unnatural state of fatness which it 
so readily assumes, and which the breeder, to gain weight, so generally 
feeds for. The wethers, having reached their second year, are turned off 
in the succeeding February or March, and weigh at that age from thirty 
to thirty-five pounds to the quarter. The wool of the New Leicester is 
long — averaging, after the first shearing, about six inches ; and the fleece 
of the American animal weighs about six pounds. It is of coarse quality, 
and little ixsed in the manufacture of cloths, on account of its length, and 
that deficiency of felting properties coinmon, in a greater or less extent, to 
all the English breeds. As a combing wool, however, it stands first, and 
is used in the manufacture of the finest worsteds, &c. 

** The high bred Leicesters of Mr. Bakewell's stock became shy breed- 
ers and poor nurses, but crosses subsequently adopted " have, to some ex- 
tent, obviated these defects. So far as my experience has extended in this 
country, however, the lambs are not very hardy, and require considerable 
attention at the time of yeaning, particularly if the weather is even moder- 
ately cold or stormy. Neither can the grown sheep bo considered, in my 
opinion, very hardy. They are much affected by sudden changes in the 
weather, and a sudden change to cold is pretty sure to be registered on 
their noses by unmistakable indications of catarrh or ' snuffles.' 

"In England, where mutton is generally eaten by the laboring classes, 
the meat of this variety is in very great demand ; and the consequent re- 
turn which a sheep possessing such fine feeding qualities is enabled to 
make, renders it a general favorite with the breeder. Instances are re- 
corded of the most extraordinary prices having been paid for these ani- 

* For the Rf gelations of tliis Society, see Youatr, p. 317. 

t Of course I do not include in this cHtegory those nnmeless venders of recipes for killin? Csnada This- 
tles, ratP, &c. &c. ; and men who spend their time and property in inventins improved implements, etc., 
are entitled to the pay oftered by the Patent laws. But, among our agriculturists of ftanding. who has ever 
known of a single instance of a valuable discovery in the operations of husbandry being concealed or with- 
held from the public ? Who has known a breeder of rank wheedle a partner out of one-half of a valuable 
bull, and then refu'e the quondam partner the services of that bull at any price, lest he should prove a 
dangerous rival in breeding ? Yet, what English writer has expressed any contempt for such meanness ? 
These things would not " go down" among us " rfpudiators" 1 



144 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



1 



mals, and Mr. BakewelFs celebrated buck " Two Pounder" was let for 
the enormous price of four hundred guineas for a single season ! The 
New Leicester has spread into all parts of the British Dominions, and 
been imported into the other countries of Europe and the United States. 
They were first introduced into our own country by the late Christopher 
Dunn, Esq., of Albany, about twenty-five years since.* Subsequent import- 
ations have been made by Mr. Powel, of Philadelphia, and various other 
gentlemen." 

It is no more than jiistice to say that this breed has never proved a fa- 
vorite with any large class of American farmers. Our long, cold winters, 
but more especially our dry, scorching summers, when it is often difficult 
to obtain the rich, green, tender feed in which the Leicester delights — the 
general want of green feed in the winter, robs it of its early maturity, and 
even of the ultimate size which it attains in England. Its mutton is too 
fat, and the fat and lean are too little intermixed, to suit American taste. 
Its wool is not very salable, from the much to be regretted dearth of 
worsted manufactories in our country. Its early decay and loss of wool 
constitute an objection to it, in a country where it is often so difficult to 
advantageously turn off sheep, particularly ewes. But, notwithstanding 
all these disadvantages, on rich lowland farms, in the vicinities of consid- 
erable mai'kets, it will always probably make a profitable return. 

The following description of what constitutes the desirable characterist- 
ics of this breed, is from the pen of Mr. Youatt :t 

" The head should be hornless, long, small, tapering lowai'd the muzzle, and projecthig 
horizontally forward. The eyes prominent, but with a quiet expression. The ears thin, 
rather long, and directed backward. The neck full and broad at its base, where it ])roceeds 
from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizon- 
tal line fi'om the nimp to the poll. The breast broad and fidl ; the shoulders also broad and 
round, and no uneven or angidar formation where tlie shoulders join either the neck or the 
back — particularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation of these bones. — 
The arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee. The bones of the 
leg small, standuig wide apart ; no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of 
wool. The chest and ban-el at once deep and round ; the ribs forming a considerable arch 
from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good condition, to 
make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth. The barrel ribbed well 
home ; no irregularity of line on the back or belly, but on the sides ; the carcass very grad- 
ually diminishing in width toward the ramp. The quarters long and full, and. as with the 
fore legs, the muscles extending down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and fidl. The legs 
of a moderate length ; the pelt also moderately thin, but soil and elastic, and covered with 
a good quantity of white wool — not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer." 

The South-Down. — " This breed of sheep has existed for several centu- 
ries in England, on a range of chalky hills called the South Downs. They 
were, as recently as 1776, small in size, and of a form not superior to the 
common wooled sheep of the United States. Since that period, a course of 
judicious breeding, pursued by one man (Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, in Sussex), 
has mainly contributed to raise this variety to its present high degree of per- 
fection, and that, too, without the admixture of the slightest degree of foreign 
blood. In our remarks on this breed of sheep, it will be understood that 
we speak of the pure improved family, as the original stock, presenting, 
with trifling modifications, the same characteristics which they exhibited 
sixty years since, are yet to be found in England — and as the middle 
space is occupied by a variety of grades, rising or falhng in value, as they 
approximate to or recede from the improved blood. 

" The South- Down is an upland sheep, of medium size, and its wool, 
which in point of length belongs to the middle class," has been estimated 
to rank with half-blood Merino, and was so estimated in my Report, quo- 

' Now about 35 years eince. t Youatt on Sheep, p. ItO. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



145 



tations from wliicli constitute so large a portion of this Letter. But both 
subsequent experience, and information derived from other sources, have 
convinced me of the erroneousness of this opinion. South-Down wool is 







SOUTH-DOWN RAM. 



essentially different from Merino wool of any grade, though the fibre in 
some of the finest fleeces may be of the same apparent fineness with half 
or one-quarter blood Merino. 

The following cut from Youatt,* gives the microscopic appearance, 
says that gentleman, of a " prime specimen of picklock South-Down 
wool," 1 being viewed as a transparent, 
and 2 as an opaque object." The fibi'e 
is g-^o^th part of an inch in diameter. 

The cups or leaves of 2 " are roughened 
irregular, and some of the leaves have ex- 
ceedingly short angles," but they are far 
sharper, more numerous and regular (the 
points which give wool its felting property) than in ordinary South-Down 
wool. In the latter, the cups are rounded and have a " rhomboidal" in- 
stead of that sharp and "hooked" character which distinguishes the Me- 
rino and Saxon. 

South-Down wool is deficient in felting properties. It makes a " furzy, 
hairy " cloth, and is no longer used in England, unless largely admixed 
with foreign wool, even for the lowest class of cloths. 

The following testimony was given by some of the most eminent manu- 
facturers, wool-factors, staplers, and merchants of England, before the 
Committee of the House of Lords in 1828, several times previously al- 
luded to : t 




Youatt, p. 236. 



t See Bischoff, vol. ii. pp. 145 to 155. 

T 



l4o SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Mr. Charles Bull, wool agent, Lewes. — " Formerly it [South-Down wool] was used for 
clothing purposes ; now it is impossible to sell it for that manufacture ; . . . . it is used for 
baizes and Haunels in a very large way." 

Mr. William Cunnington, wool-stapler, Wiltshire. — " The public will not wear the 
South-Down cloths, they are so very coarse." 

Mr. James Fiso.v, wool dealer, Thetford. — "There has been deterioration in the quality 
of (South-Down) wool ; the general weight of the fleece 20 years ago was 2 pounds to 2^, 
and it is now 3 pounds to 3.^. our wool used to be made into cloths, and returned into Nor- 
folk, and used by myself and the agriculturists. We do not get the same cloth now ; neither 
myself nor the fai-mer would wear it, because of the deterioration of qualit}%" 

Mr. James Hubbard, wool agent, Leeds. — South-Down wool is not "now employed for 
the piu-pose of making cloth ; it has been forced down two or three steps in the scale of wool, 

and is now used for flannels and baize The wool gets more frothy and open, and in 

manufacturing it does not felt and improve so well ; it works more flannely." .... 

Mr. John Brooke, manufacturer, Howley. — " Manufacture piincipally blue cloths from 7s. 

to 24s. and 2.5s. per yard, and also narrow cloths Had the Duke of Norfolk's wool, Mr. 

Ellman, junior's, clip from 1817 and 1822, and Mr. Ellman, senior's, from 1817 to 1821 

Kept to English wool longer than any house in the neighborhood Ceased to manufac- 
ture it entirely in 1823 or 1824, .... found our neighbors were sending out better cloths 
than we were, not only at the same price, but better manufactured cloths, and we lost our cus- 
tomers." 

Mr. Benjamin Gott, merchant and manufacturer, Leeds. — " I formerly used 150 packs 
of English wool weekly ; the disuse of English wool was gradual, commencing about the 
year 1819, continuing to 1823 and 1824, aljout which time I began to manufacture exclu- 
sively from foreign wool. The disuse of English wool arose from the quality and the ad- 
vantage of using foreign wool compared with our own. 1 could not now make an article 
which would be merchantable at all for the foreign market, (that remark appUes equally to 
the home trade,) in certain descriptions of cloth, except of foreign wool." . . . These wools 
(the domestic and foreign,) " have ditferent properties." 

Mr. William Ireland, Blackwell Hall factor, London. — " We have been using English 
wool for second and livery cloths, but recently they have been so very much lowered in 
quality we have not been able to make use of them at all, and have been obliged to make 
use of low German and low Spanish wools for that purpose." 

Mr. J. Sutcliffe, wool-stapler, Huddersfield. — " South-Down wool was formerly ap- 
plied for making cloth for home consumption regularly, for the clothing of sers-auts, &c. It 
was also used for army clothing. It is now no longer used for those purposes. It makes a 
furzy, soft, hairy piece ; it has not that fastness in it that foreign wool has." 

Many other individuals testify to the same effect, and the extremely low 
character of South-Down wool for carding purposes ma^ be regarded as 
definitely settled. But as it has deteriorated it has increased in length of 
staple in England, and to such an extent that improved machinery enables 
it to be used as a combing wool — for the manufacture of Avorsteds. Where 
this has taken place it is quite as profitable, in England, as when it was 
finer and shorter. In the United States, where the demand for combing- 
wool is so small that it is easily met by a better article, perhaps thi 
would not be the case. And it may be problematical whether the proper 
combing length will be easily reached, or at least maintained in this coun- 
try, in the absence of that high feeding system which has undoubtedly 
given the wool its increased length in England.* 

The average weight of fleece in the hill-fed sheep is 3 lbs. ; on rich 
lowlands a little more. Mr. John Ellman, Jr., testified before the Com- 
mittee of the House of Lords that he was then " keeping his sheep better 
than formerly — fattening them, which rendered the fleece heavier — that 
they then averaged about 3 lbs. of wool."t " But the Down is cultivated 
more particularly for its mutton, which for quality takes precedence of all 
other " (from sheep of good size) " in the English markets. Its early maturity 
and extreme aptitude to lay on flesh, render it peculiarly valuable for this 
purpose. The Down is turned off at two years old, and its weight at thai 
age is, in England, from 80 to 100 lbs. High fed wethers have reached 

* Nearly or quite every individufll who testifies to the deterioration and increased length of the South- 
Down wool before the Lord's Committee, assign this as the cause of the change. 
t Bifichoff, vol. ii., p. 137. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



147 



from 32 to even 40 lbs. a quarter ! Notwithstanding its weight, the 
Down has, in the language of Mr. Youatt, a patience of occasional short 
keep, and an endurance of hard stocking, equal to any other sheep. This 
gives it a decided advantage over the bulkier Leicester, Lincolns, &c., as 
a mutton sheep, in hilly districts and those producing short and scanty 
herbage. It is hardy and healthy, though in common with the other Eng- 
lish varieties much subject to the catarrh or " snuffles," and no sheep bet- 
ter withstands our American winters. The ewes are prolific breeders and 
good nursers. The Down is quiet and docile in its habits, and though an 
industiious feeder, exhibiting little disposition to rove." Like the Leices- 
ter, it is comparatively a short-lived animal, and the fleece continues to 
decrease in weight after it reaches maturity. It crosses better with short 
and middle wooled breeds than the Leicester. " A sheep possessing'such 
qualities must of course be valuable in upland districts in the vicinity of 
markets. They have been introduced into every part of the British Do- 
minions, and imported into various other countries. The Emperor of 
Russia paid Mr. Ellman three hundred guineas for two rams, and in 1800 
' a ram belonging to the Duke of Bedford, was let for one season at eighty 
guineas, two others at forty guineas each, and four more at twenty-eight 
guineas each.' These valuable sheep were introduced into the United 
fetates a few years since by Col. J. H. Powell, of Philadelphia, and a small 
number was imported by one of the members of this Committee in 1834. 
The last were from the flock of Mr. Ellman, at a cost of $60 ahead. Sev- 
eral other irapoitations have since taken place." 

The ram and ewe, the portraits of which are given, are the descendants 
of the importation of Francis Rotch, Esq., alluded to in the preceding 
paragraph. They are most spirited likenesses, and were kindly furnished 
me by that gentleman, to accompany this Letter. They are exceedingly 




SOUTH-DOWN EWE. 



characteristic of the Ellman stock. Not so large as the later importations 
of Mr. Rotch from the celebrated flock of Mr. Webb, they are, in the 



148 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



opinion of that gentleman, as well as in my own, a more beautifully 
formed and not less profitable animal. For compactness — great weight in 
a small compass — they are perhaps unrivaled. 

The following is the description of the perfect South-Down by Mr. Ell- 
man, the founder of the improved breed : 

" The head small and hornless ; the face speckled or ^-ay and neither too long nor too 
short; the lips thin, and the space between the nose and the eyes narrow; the under jaw 
or chap fine ana thin ; the ears tolerably wide and weU covered with wool, and the fore- 
head also, and the whole space between the ears well protected by it, as a defence against 
the fly. 

" The eye full and bright but not prominent. The orbits of the eye, the eye-cap or bone 
not too projectinET, that it may not form a fatal obstacle in lambing. 

" The neck of a medium length, thin toward the head, but enlarging toward the shoul- 
ders, where it should be broad and high and straight in its whole comse above and below. 
The breast should be v^ade, deep, and projecting forward between the fore-legs, indicating a 
good constitution and a disf)osition to thrive. Corresponding with this, the shoulders should 
Le on a level with the back, and not too wide above: they should bow outward from the 
top to the breast, indicating a springing rib beneath, and leaving room for it. 

" The ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending far backward, and the 
last rib projecting more than others, the back flat from the shoulders to the setting on of 
the tail ; the loin broad and flat ; the rump broad and the tail set on high, and nearly on 
a level with the spine. Tlie hips wide ; the space between them and the last rib on ei- 
ther side as naiTow as possible, and the ribs generally presenting a cucular fonn like a 
barrel. 

" The belly as straight as the back. 

" The leiTs neither too long nor too short ; the fore-legs straight from the breast to the foot; 
not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart both before and behind ; the hock 
having a direction rather outward, and the twist, or the meeting of the thigh.s behind, being 
iiarticularly flill, the bones fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or 
dark color. 

The belly well defended vdth wool, and the wool coming down before and behind to the 
knee and to the hock ; the wool short, close, curled and fine, and free from spiry projecting 
fibres." 




WWLANa 

THE COTSWOLD SHEKP. 



The above cut is copied from one in Mr. Spooner's work on Sheep — 
the original drawing being by Harvey. 

The Cots wolds, until improved by modern crosses, were a very large, 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 149 

coarse, long-legged, flat-ribbed variety, ligbt in the fore-quarter — sheainng 
a long, heavy, coarse fleece of wool. They were hardy, prolific breeders 
and capital nurses. They were deficient in early matui'ity, and did not 
possess feeding properties equaling those of the Down or New Leicester. 
To a cross with the latter variety we owe the modern or improved Cots- 
wold. Having had no personal experience with the breed,* I prefer 
quoting the descriptions of the later standard English writers, to the task 
of compilation. 

The following is from Spooner : t 

" The Cotswold is a large breed of sheep, with a long and abundant fleece, and the ewes 
are veiy prolific and good nurses. Formerly they were bred only on the hills, and fatted 
in the valleys, of the Severn and the Thames ; but with the inclosure of the Cotswold 
Hills and the improvement of their cultivation they have been reared and fatted in the 
same district. They have been extensively crossed with the Leicester sheep, by which 
their size and fleece have been somewhat diminished, but their carcasses considerably im- 
proved, and their maturity rendered earlier. The wethers are now sometimes fattened 
at 14 months old, when they weigh from 15 lbs. to 24 lbs. per quarter, and at two years 
old increase to 20 lbs. or 30 lbs. The wool is strong, mellow, and of good color, though 
rather coarse, 6 to 8 inches in length, and fi-om 7 lbs. to 8 lbs. per fleece. The superior 
hardihood of the improved Cotswold over the Leicester, and their adaptation to common 
ti-eatment, together with the prolific nature of the ewes and their abundance of milk, have 
rendered them in many places rivals of the New Leicester, and have obtained for them, 
of late years, more attention to their selection and general treatment, under which man- 
agement still farther improvement appears very probable. They have also been used in 
crossing other breeds, and, as before noticed, have been mixed with the Hampshire Downs. 
It is, indeed, the improved Cotswold that, under the temi New or Improved Oxfordshire 
Sheep, are so frequently the successful candidates for prizes offered for the best long-wooled 
sheep at some of the principal agi-icultiu-al meetings or shows in the Kingdom. The quality 
of the mutton is considered supeiior to that of the Leicester, the tallow being less abundant, 
■with a larger development of muscle or flesh. We may, therefore, regard tliis breed as one 
of established reputation, and extending itself throughout every district of the Kmgdom." 

Of the method of crossing between the Cotswolds and Leicester, Mr. 
Youatt remarks ij 

" The degree to which the cross may be carried must depend upon the natitre of the old 
stock, and on the situation and character of the farm. In exposed situations, and somewhat 
scanty pasture, the old blood shotild decidedly prevail. On a more sheltered soil, and on 
land that will bear closer stocking, a greater use may be made of the Leicester. Another 
circumstance that v^'ill guide the farmer is the object that he principally has in view. If he 
expects to derive his chief profits from the wool, he will look to the primitive Cotswolds ; 
if he expects to gsiiii more as a grazier, he will use the Leicester ram more fi-eely." 

Cotswold sheep of good quality have been imported into the United 
States by Messrs. Coi'ning & Sotham, of Albany, and are now bred by 
the latter gentleman. I believe there were sevei-al earlier importations — 
but of their dates or particulars I am not advised. 

The Cheviot Sheep. — Sheep of this breed have been imported into my 
immediate neighborhood, and were subject to my frequent inspection for two 
or three years. They had the appearance of small Leicesters, but were con- 
siderably inferior in correctness of proportions to high-bred animals of that 
variety. They perhaps more resemble a cross between the Leicester and 
the old " native " or common breed of the United States. Their fleeces were 
too coarse to furnish a good carding wool — too short for a good combing one. 
Mixed with a smaller lot of better wool, their this year's clip sold for 29 
cents per pound, while my heavier Merino fleeces sold for 42 cents per 
pound. They attracted no notice, and might at any time have been 
bought of their owner for the price of common sheep of the same weight. 
I believe the flock was broken up and sold to butchers and others this 
spring, after shearing. They were certainly inferior to the description of 
the breed by Sir John Sinclair, even in 1792, quoted by Mr. Youatt, || and. 

* With every breed previously described, I have had ample personal experience. I have merely seen 
Cotswold flocks. t Q. v., p. 99. % Q- "-. P- 3'10- II Q- »•. PP- 285, 280. 



150 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



had all the defects attributed to the original stock by Cully* They mio-ht 
not, however, have been favorable specimens of the breed. 

On the steep, storm-lashed Cheviot Hills, in the extreme North of Eng- 
land, this breed first attracted notice for their great hardiness in resisting 




CHEVIOT EWE. 



cold and feeding on coarse heathery herbage. A cross vi'ith the Leices- 
ter, pretty generally resorted to, constitutes the improved variety. The 
characteristics of the Leicester are quite evident in the portrait of the 
Cheviot Ewe, above, copied from Mr. Youatt. 

Professor Low thus speaks of the result of this cross : 

" The Cheviot breed amalgamates -whh the Leicester, and a system of breeding has been 
extensively inti-oduced for producing the first cross of this descent. The rams employed are 
ot the pure Leicester breed, and the progeny is siipenor in size, weight of wool, and tenden- 
cy to fiitten, to the native Cheviot. . . . The benefit, however, may be said to end with the 
first cross, and the progeny of this mixed descent is greatly infen'or to the pure Leicester 
in fonn and fattening properties, atid to the pure Cheviot in hardiness of constitution. 

Of the improved Cheviot Mr. Spooner says : 

" This breed has greatly extended itself throughout the mountains of Scotland, and in 
many instances supplanted the Black-faced breed ; but the change, though in many cases ad- 
vantageous, has in some instances been otherwise, the latter being somewhat hardier, and 
more capable of subsisting on healhy pasturage. They are, however, a hardy race, well 
suited for their native pastures, beanng with comparative impunity the storms of winter, 
and thriving well on poor keep. Though less hardy than the black-faced sheep of Scotland, 
they are more profitable as respects their feeding, making more flesh on an equal quantity 
ot food, and making it quicker. They have white faces and legs, open countenances, lively 
eyes, without horns. The ears are large, and somewhat singular, and there is much space 
between the ears and eyes. The carcass is long ; the back straight ; the shoulders rather 
light; the ribs circular ; and tlie quarters good. The legs are small in the bone and cov- 
ered with wool, as well as the body, with the exce])tion of the face. The Cheviot wether 
is fit for the butcher at three years old, and averages fi'om I'J lbs. to 18 lbs. per quarter — the 
mutton behig of a good quality, though infeiior to the South-Down, and of less flavor tlian 
tlie Black-faced The Cheviot, though a moimtain breed, is quiet and docile, and ea- 
sily managed. The wool hfme, (?) closely covers the body, assisting much in preserving it 

* See Cully on Live Stock, p. 150. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 151 

from the effects of wet autl cold ; the fleece averaging about 3^ lbs. Formerly the wool was 
extensively employed for making cloths, but having given place to the finer Saxony wools, 
it has siiiik in price, and been confined to combing purposes. It has thus become altogether 
a secondary consideration." . . . 

If Mr. Spooner is not made to say that the wool is " fine " by an omis- 
sion of qualifying words, or some other misprint, his ideas ofjineness must 
be singular indeed ! The South-Down wool, rejected for carding pur- 
poses, is several shades finer than the Cheviot ! The latter is of about the 
quality of Leicester, the number of serrations about the same, and, says 
Mr. Youatt, speaking of the microscopic appearance of the wool, " the 
derivation of the breed (from the Leicester) is well illustrated by the 
forirtation of the fibre." 

Mr. John Varley, manufacturer, of Stanningley, near Leeds, thus testi- 
fied before the Lords' Committee :* 

" I atti-ibiite the low pi-ice of Cheviot wool to deterioration ; it is deteriorated veiy much 
in point of hair ; it was formerly the fashion of the day for Cheviot wool to be worn as cloth ; 

it is not the fashion now. It is not fit to make fine cloths, as it was then The wool 

is grown coarser and longer, and only fit to make low coatings and flushings." 

This is confirmed by the testimony of other witnesses before the Com- 
mittee; and Mr. Youatt on the same subject remarks,t "that the wool is 
inferior to the South-Down." 

Broad-tailed Asiatic and African Sheep. — I allude to the Broad- 
tailed race of sheep, not from any high estimate whicli I place upon their 
value, but because they constitute one of the breeds now existinor in a 
state of purity in the United States. 

Some " Tunisian Mountain Sheep " were received by Col. Pickering 
when abroad, and were distributed by him in Pennsylvania.t They are 
higldy spoken of by Col. Powell as a cross with the Dishley and South- 
Down. They have, I believe, long since become extinct. 

It was Commodore Porter, I think, who, you informed me, sent home 
some of the Broad-tailed sheep of Asia, obtained from Smyrna, pure- 
blooded descendants of which yet exist in South Carolina.|| I have care- 
fully examined the specimens of wool of the full blood and the grades of 
this variety forwarded by you. No. .3, taken from the skin of a full-blood, 
is 8 inches long, pure white, consisting of coarse hairs, uneven in their 
length and diameter — the same hair of uneven diameter in different parts 
of it, and the whole intermixed for about 4 inches from the roots, with a 
fine, downy or cottony wool. No. 2, about 3|- inches long from the side 
of a three-fourths blood ram, is much evener in quality, with no hairs as 
coarse or wool as fine as in No. 3. It contains some jarr, or short, shari)- 
pointed hairs, and is a dry, and, I should judge, rather unworkable wool, 
not weU, adapted to either carding or combing. No. 1, from thigh of same 
animal, is 8 inches long, resembles No. 3, but not so great a distinction 
between the hair and the wool. No. 4, from a three-fourths blood 4-year- 
old ewe, is about 2 inches long, contains a few colored hairs, resembles 
No. 2. but is somewhat coarser. All these samples are destitute of yolk, 
and apparently come from loose, light, dry, open fleeces. They do not 
strike me as wools which could be as profitably cultivated as many others, 
for any objects or under any circumstances. 

If the object is mutton instead of wool, it seems to me that a better se- 
lection can be made, from some of the English breeds — which intermingle 

* Bischotf, vol ii , p. 144. Mr. Youatt quotes the substance of the above, and fully sustains Mr. Varley'a 
views. t Q. v., p. S-S. 

I See Essay on Various Breeds of Sheep, by Col. John Hare Powell, published in the Memoirs of the 
Board of Asricnlture of the State of New- York, vol. iii., p. 377, (1826.) 

II In Letter Vth I inadvertently spoke of these as a large breed of sheep. They are not above medium 
size, or rather, may be said to be a smallish race. 



152 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



their fat and muscle in such a manner as to render both palatable, instead 
of depositing a greatly disproportioned share of the former in one luscious 
mass, forming an impediment to breeding, and an unsightly appendage in 
the eye of the breeder. 

All the different varieties of the Broad-tailed and Fat-rumped sheep 
will be found described in Youatt, and I will not now consume your time 
with them. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 153 



LETTER XI. 

THE MOST PROFITABLE BREED OF SHEEP FOR THE SOUTH.— PRINCIPLES 

OF BREEDING. 

Breeds should be adapted to the circumstances of a Country... Circumstances requiring a Mutton Sheep 
.. -Comparison between Mutton Sheep — The South-Downs, Leicesters and Cotswolds. . .How far the Feed 
Market?, &c., of the South demand such breeds.. .What breed of Sheep will give the greatest value of 
Wool from the feed of an acre ?.. .Comparative Consumption and Wool Product of the Mutton breeds and 
the Merino— Other Expenses — Comparative Hardiness, ifcc. . . A pound of tine wool can be grown as cheaply 
as a pound of coarse — worth more lor market or for consumption.. The Mutton of the Merino and its 
Crosses. . .What sub-variety of the Merino best adapted to the wants of the South ?.. Review of the His- 
tory of Wool-Growing and the Wool Markets since J824.. .Taritfs and Prices.. .Injudicious course of the 
Manufacturers— Have discouraged the growth of tine wool and encouraged that of medium and coarse... 
A surplus of medium wools, and a bare or short supply of tine.. Manufacturers now in the power of tine 
wool growers.. Interest of the Manufacturers to encoiirage the giowlh of tine wools by paying better 
prices — are beginning to do so— will be compelled to continue this course.. .Will the North furnish the 
increasing demand ! — No — Reasons.. .Fine wool in every point of view more profitable than coarse for 
cultivation in the South.. .Comparison between Merinos and Saxons. . .Crosses between them. . .Points 
which constitule excellence in a Merino — proper size — per centage of wool to live-weieht — shape and gen- 
eral appearance — skin — wrinkles.. .The wool — what parts it should cover— its gum — length and weight of 
fleece— evenness — style— softness— serration — manner of opening, &c.. .Principles of hreeding. . .In and-in 
breeding... Crossing... ICngiish Crosses with the Merino.. .Views of Mr. Livinirston concerning the use of 
cross-bred rams— of the French breeders— of the author... Great importance of starting a tlock with choice 
rams — with dilfereut strains of blood. 

Dear Sir : No one breed of sheep combines the highest perfection in all 
those points which give value to this race of animals. One is remarkable 
for the weight, or early maturity, or excellent quality of its cai-cass, while 
it is deficient in quality or quantity of wool ; and another which is valu- 
able for wool, is comparatively deficient in carcass. Some varieties will 
flourish only under certain conditions of feed and climate, while others 
are much less affected by those conditions, and will subsist under the 
greatest variations of temperature, and on the most opposite qualities of 
verdure. 

In selecting a breed for any given locality, we are to take into consid- 
eration Jirst, the feed and climate, or the surrounding natural circum- 
stances ; and, second, the market facilities and demand. We should then 
make choice of that breed which, with the advantages possessed, and un- 
der all the circumstances, will yield the greatest net value of marketable 
product. 

Rich lowland herbage, in a climate which allows it to remain green 
during a large portion of the year, is favorable to the production of large 
carcasses. If convenient to markets where mutton finds a prompt sale 
and good prices, then all the conditions are realized which call for a ?nut- 
ton, as contradistinguished from a wool-producing sheep. Under such cir- 
cumstances, the choice should undoubtedly, in my judgment, rest between 
the improved English varieties — the South-Down, the New Leicester, and 
the improved Cotswold or New Oxfordshire sheep. In deciding between 
these, minor and more specific circumstances are to be taken into account. 
If we wish to keep large numbers, the Down will herd* much better than 
the two larger breeds ; if our feed, though generally plentiful, is liable to 
be shortish during the drouths of summer, and we have not a certain sup- 
ply of the most nutritious winter feed, the Down will better endure occa-, 
sional short keep : if the market calls for a choice and high-flavored mut- 
ton, the Down possesses a decided superiority. If, on the other hand, we 

* That is, remain thriving and healthy when kept together in large numbers. 

u 



154 SHEEP husbandrVin the south. 

wisli to keep but few in the same inclosure, the large breeds will be as 
healthy as the Downs ; if the pastures be wettish or marshy, the former 
will better subsist on the rank herbage which usually grows in such situa- 
tions ; if they do not afford so fine a quality of mutton, they, particularly 
the Leicester, possess an earlier maturity, and both give more meat for 
the amount of food consumed, and yield more tallow. 

The next point of comparison between the Long and Middle wooled 
families, is the value of their wool. Though not the first or principal ob- 
ject aimed at in the culture of any of these breeds, it is, in this country, 
an important item or incident in determining their relative profitableness. 
The American Leicester* yields about 6 lbs. of long, coarse, combing wool ; 
the Cotswold something more, but this perhaps counterbalanced by other 
considerations ; the Down from 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. of a low quality of cardinfT 
wool. None of these wools are very salable, at remunerating prices, in 
the American market. Both will become more so, as manufactures of 
worsted, and of flannels and baizes, increase. The difference in the weight 
of fleeces between the breeds is, per se, a less important consideration than 
would first appear, and for reasons which will be given when I speak of 
the connection between the amount of wool produced and the food con- 
sumed, by sheep. 

Of the Cheviots I have taken no notice in this connection, as they are 
obviously inferior to the preceding breeds, except in a capacity to endure 
rigorous weather, and to subsist on heathy herbage. No part of the 
South has a climate too severe for the more valuable races, and its grasses 
and other esculents, wherever found, and as far as they go, are, making 
the proper allowances for wet and dry lands, highly palatable and nutri- 
tious to all the varieties which respectively feed in such situations. 

Under the natural and artificial circumstances already alluded to, which 
suiTound Sheep Husbandry in many parts of England — where the fattest 
and grossest quality of mutton is consumed as almost the only animal food 
of the laboring classes — the heavy, early maturing New Leicester, and the 
still heavier New Oxfordshire sheep, seem exactly adapted to the wants 
of producer and consumer, and are of unrivaled value. To depasture 
poorer soils — sustain a folding system — and furnish the mutton which sup- 
plies the tables of the wealthy — the South-Down is an equal desideratum. 

Have we any region in our Southern States, where analogous circum- 
stances demand the introduction of similar breeds'? The climate, so far as 
its effect on the health is concerned, is adapted to any, even the least 
hardy varieties ; but not so its effects on the verdure on which they are to 
subsist. The long, scorching summers, so utterly unlike those of England, 
leave the grass on lands stocked heavily enough for profit, entirely too 
dry and short for the heavy, sluggish Long Wools. This is particularly 
true in the tide-water zone. Mutton, too, sheeted over externally with 
three or four inches of solid fat,t even if it could be made acceptable to 

the slave, in lieu of his ration of bacon — a thing more than doubtful 

would never find any considerable market off from the plantation. So far 
as the supply of feed is concerned, the above remarks apply, thouc-li not 
equally, to the South-Down. It will live and thrive where the Long Wools 
would dwindle away, but it is a mistake to suppose that the heavy im- 

♦ luse the word " American " Leicester, because it is notorious that this, as well as file Cotswold— and 
tUl the otner heavy Knglish varieties, soon lose in the weight of their lleeres when subjected to the climate 
and the (best ordinary) system of feeding in the United States. I should except, perhaps a few hiMilv 
pampered animals. ° ' 

t Five and even six inches of solid faf, on the rib, is nut uncommon in England. In the Cotiwolds the 
fat and lean are more intermixed, and the mutton is of a better quality ; but it would be considered en- 
tirely too luscious and tallowy by Americans. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 155 

proved South-Down will subsist, and attain its proper weight and fatness, 
on very poor or very scant herbage. The old unimproved variety would, 
like some other smallish and hardy races, obtain a living on keep as poor 
as that which grew on the lightest and thinnest soils of Sussex. Moulded 
by the hand of EUman, and other breeders, to better fulfill the conditions 
of a mutton sheep, in size and other particulars, they demand that in- 
creased supply of food which the formation of additional fat and muscle 
require. Retaining some of the properties of the parent stock, they are 
less sluggish, and bear travel better than the Long Wools ; but with them 
as with the latter, and all other animals, much or prolonged exercise in 
pursuit of food or otherwise, is unfavorable to obesity. Men, and pai-- 
ticularly owners, in advocating the claims of this breed and that, seem not 
unfrequently to forget that the general physical laws which control in the 
development of all the animal tissues as well as functions, are uniform. 
Better organs will doubtless make a better appropriation of animal food ; 
and they inay be taught, so to speak, to appropriate it in particular direc- 
tions — in one breed, more especially to the production of fat — in another, 
of muscle or lean meat — in another, wool. But, cateris paribus, large 
animals will always require more food than small ones. Animals which 
are to be carried to a high state of fatness must have plentiful and nutri- 
tious food, and they must exercise but little in order to prevent the unne- 
cessary " combustion " in the lungs, of that carbon which forms more than 
seven-tenths of their fat. No art of breeding can countervail these estab- 
lished laws of Nature. 

Again, there are no facilities in the South for marketing large quantities 
of mutton — of a tithe of that which would be annually fitted for the sham- 
bles, were Sheep Husbandry introduced to anything like the extent I have 
recommended, and with the mutton breeds of sheep. With few cities and 
large villages — with a sparse population — with an agricultural population 
the greatest drawback on whose pecuniary prosperity is their inability to 
market their own surplus edibles — not a particle of rational doubt can ex- 
ist on this point. True, I have expressed the opinion that, both as a mat- 
ter of healthfulness and economy, mutton should be substituted for a moi- 
ety of the bacon used on the plantation; but with such a change, in a 
country so exclusively agricultural, each landholder would raise his own 
supply, and thus no market be created. It may then be regarded as a set- 
tled point that the production ©f wool is the primary, the great object of 
Southern Sheep Husbandry. 

In instituting a comparison between breeds of sheep for wool-growino" 
purposes, I will, in the outset, lay down the obviously incontrovertible 
proposition that the question is not what variety will shear the heaviest or 
even the most valuable fleeces, irrespective of the cost of production. — 
Cost of feed and care, and every other expense, must be deducted, to fairly 
test the profits of an animal. If a large sheep consume twice as much food 
as a small one, and give but once and a half as much wool, it is obviously 
more profitable, other things being equal, to keep two of the smaller sheep. 
The true question then is, with the same expense in other particulars, From, 
what breed will the verdure of an acre of land produce the greatest value of 
wool ? 

Let us first proceed to ascertain the comparative amount of food con- 
sumed by the several breeds. There are no satisfactory experiments 
which show that breed, in itself considered, has any particular influence on 
the quantity of food consumed. It is found, with all varieties, that the con- 
sumption is in proportion to the live weight of the (grown) animal. Of 
course, this rule is not invariable in its individual application, but its gen- 



156 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

eral soundness has been satisfactorily established. Spooner states that 
grown sheep take up 3^ per cent, of their weight in what is equivalent to 
dry hay per day, to keep in store condition. Veit places the consumption 
at 21 per cent. My experience would incline me to place it about midway 
between the two. But whatever the precise amount of the consumption, 
if it is proportioned to the weight, it follows that if an acre is capable of 
sustaining three Merinos weighing 100 lbs. each, it will sustain but two 
Leicesters weighing 150 lbs. each, and two and two- fifths South-Downs 
weighing 125 lbs. each. Merinos of tJds weight often shear 5 lbs. per 
fleece, taking flocks through. The heibage of an acre, then, would give 
15 lbs. of Merino wool, and but 12 lbs. of Leicester, and but 9f lbs. of 
South-Down (estimating the latter as high as 4 lbs. to the fleece) ! Even 
the finest and lightest fleeced sheep ordinarily known as Merinos, average 
about 4 lbs. to the fleece, so that the feed of an acre would produce as 
much of the highest quality of wool sold under the name of Merino, as it 
would of New Leicester, and more than it would of South-Down ! The 
former would be worth from fifty to one hundred per cent, more per pound 
than either of the latter ! Nor does this indicate all the actual difference, 
as I have, in the preceding estimate, placed the live-weight of the English 
breeds low, and that of the Merino high. The live-weight of the four- 
pound fine-fleeced Merino does not exceed 90 lbs. It ranges from SO to 
90 lbs., so that 300 lbs. of live-weight would give a still greater product 
of wool to the acre.* I consider it perfectly safe to say that the herbage 
of an acre will uniformly give nearly double the value of Merino, that it will 
of any of the English Long or Middle wools. 

The important question now remains. What are the other relative ex- 
penses of these breeds 1 I speak from experience when I say that the 
Leicester! is in no respect a hardier sheep than the Merino — indeed, it is 
my firm conviction that it is less hardy, under the most favorable circum- 
stances. It is more subject to colds, and I think its constitution breaks up 
more readily under disease. The lambs are more liable to perish from ex- 
posure to cold, when newly dropped. Under uvfavorahle circumstances — 
herded in large flocks, pinched for feed, or subjected to long journeys — 
its capacity to endure, and its ability to rally from the effiects of such draw- 
backs, do not compni-e with those of the Merino. The high-bred South- 
Down, though consideral)ly less hardy than the unimproved parent stock, 
is still fairly entitled to the appellation of a hardy animal. In this respect 
I consider it just about on a par with the Merino. I do not think, how- 
ever, it will bear as hard stocking as the latter, without a rapid diminution 
in size and quality. If the peculiar merits of the animal are to be taken 
into account in determining the expenses — and I think they should be — 
the superior fecundity of the South-Down is a point in its favor, as well 
for a wool-producing as a mutton sheep. The South-Down ewe not only 
frequently yeans twin lambs, as do both the Merino and Leicester, but she 
possesses, unlike the latter, nursing properties to do justice by them. But 
this advantage is fully counterbalanced by the superior longevity of the 
Merino. All the English mutton breeds begin to rapidly deteriorate in 
amount of wool, capacity to fatten, and in general vigor, at about 5 years 
old ; and their early maturity is no offset to this, in a sheep kept for wool- 
grov^nng purposes. This early decay would require earlier and more rapid 
slaughter or sale than would always be economically convenient, or even 
possible, in a region situated in all respects like the South. It is well, on 



* It i8 understood that all of these live-weights refer to aces in fair ordinary, or what is called stora 
condition, 
t I speak of full-blood Leicesters. Some of its crosses are much hardier than the pure bred sheep. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 157 

properly stocked farms, to slaughter or turn off the Merino wether at four 
or five years old, to make room for the breeding stock ; but he will not 
particularly deteriorate, and he will richly pay the way with his fleece, for 
several years longer. Breeding ewes are rarely turned off before eight, 
and are frequently kept until ten years old, at which period they exhibit 
no greater marks of age than do the Down and Leicester at Jive or six. — 
I have known instances of Merino ewes breeding uniformly until 15 years 
old! The Improved Cotswold is said to be hardier than the Leicester; 
but I have said less of this variety, throughout this entire Letter, as from 
their great size* and the consequent amount of food consumed by them, 
and the other necessary incidents connected with the breeding of so large 
animals, the idea of their being introduced as a wool-growing sheep any- 
where, and particularly on lands grassed like those of the South, is, in my 
judgment, utterly preposterous. There is one advantage which all the 
coarse races of sheep have over the Merino. Either because their hoofs 
do not grow long and turn under from the sides, as do those of the Meri- 
no, and thus hold dirt and filth in constant contact with the foot, the coarse 
races are less subject to the visitations of the hoof-ail, and, when contract- 
ed, it spreads with less violence and malignity among them. Taking all 
the circumstances connected with the peculiar management of each I'ace, 
and all the incidents, exigencies, and risks of the husbandry of each fairly 
into account, 1 am fully convinced that the expenses, other than those of 
feed, are not smaller 'per capita, or even in the number required to stock 
an acre, in either of the English breeds above referred to, than in tlie Me- 
rino. Nor should I be disposed to concede even equality, in these respects, 
to either of those English breeds, excepting the South-Down. 

You write me, Sir, that many of the South Carolina planters are under 
the impression that coarse wools will be most profitably grown by them, 
first, because there is a greater deficit in the supply, and they are better 
protected from foreign competition ; and, secondly, because they furnish 
the raw material for so great a portion of the woolens consumed in the 
South. Each of these premises is true, but are the conclusions legitimate % 
Notwithstanding the greater deficit and better protection, do the coarse 
wools bear as high a price as the fine ones % If not, they are not as profit- 
able, for I have already shown that it costs no more to raise a found of 
coarse than a pound, of fine wool. Nay, a pound of medium Merino wool 
can be raised more cheaply than a pound of the South-Down, Leicester, 
or Cotswold ! This I consider clearly established. 

Grant that the South requires a much greater proportion of coarse than 
of fine wool, for her own consumption. If a man needing iron for liis own 
consumption, wrought a mine to obtain it, in which he should happen to 
find gold e(jually accessible and plentiful, would it be economical in him 
to neglect the more precious metal because he wanted to use the iron 1 or 
should he dig the gold, obtain the iron by exchange, and pocket the differ- 
ence in value "? Would it be economical to grow surplus wool, wool for 
market, worth from 25 to 30 cents per pound, when it costs no more per 
pound to grow that worth from 40 to 45 cents 1 And even for the home 
want, for the uses of the plantation — for slave-cloths, &c. — fine wool is 
worth more per pound than coarse for actual wear or use ! Is this propo- 
sition new and incredible to you 1 I challenge the fullest investigation of 
its truth, through the testimony of those familiar with the subject, or through 
the direct ordeal of experiment. It is true that a piece of fine broadcloth 
is not so strong, nor will it wear like a Chelmsford plain of treble thick- 

* I saw two at the late N. Y. State Fair, at Saratoga, which weighed over 300 lbs. each ! 



15S SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ness. The threads of the former are spun to extreme fineness to econo- 
mize the costly raw material. To give it that finish which is demanded 
by fashion — to give it its beautiful nap — these threads are still farther re- 
duced by "gigging" and "shearing." But spin fine wool into yarn as 
coarse as that used in Chelmsfords, and manufacture it in the same way, 
and it would make a far stronger and more durable cloth. The reasons 
are obvious. Merino wool is decidedly stronger than the English coarse 
Long and Middle wools — or any other coarse wools — in proportion to its 
diameter or bulk. It felts far better, and there is thei'efore a greater co- 
hesion between the different fibres of the same thread, and between the 
different threads. It is also more pliable and elastic, and consequently less 
subject to " breaking" and abrasion. 

Unless the views I have advanced are singularly erroneous, it will be 
seen that, for wool-growing purposes, the Merino possesses a marked and 
decided superiority over the best breeds and families of coarse-wooled 
sheep. As a mutton sheep, it is inferior to some of those breeds, but not 
BO much so as it is generally reputed to be. If required to consume the 
fat and lean together, many who have never tasted Merino mutton, and 
who have an unfavorable impression of it, would, I suspect, find it more 
palatable than the luscious and over-fat New Leicester. The mutton of 
the cross between the Merino and " Native " sheep would certainly be 
preferred to the Leicester, by anybody but an English laborer used to the 
latter. It is short-grained, tender, and of good flavor. The same is true 
of the crosses with the English varieties. These will be, hereafter, more 
particularly alluded to. Grade Merino wethers (say lialf-bloods) are favor- 
ites with the Northern drover and butcher. They are of good size — ex- 
■traoT'dinarily heavy for their apparent bulk* — make good mutton — tallow 
well — and their pelts, from the greater weight of wool on them, command 
an extra price. They would, in my opinion, furnish a mutton every way 
suitable for plantation consumption, and one which would be well accept- 
ed in the Southern markets. 

In speaking of the Merino in this connection, I have in all cases, unless 
it is distinctly specified to the contrary, had no reference to the Saxons — 
though they are, as it is well known, pure-blooded descendants of the 
former. 

Assuming it now as a settled point, that it is to the Merino race that the 
wool-grower must look for the most profitable sheep, let us now proceed 
to inquire which of the widely varying sub-varieties of this race are best 
adapted to the wants and circumstances of the South. A brief glance at 
the history of wool-growing, and of the wool markets, for the last few 
years, will form an useful preliminary inquiry, and will assist us materially 
in arriving at a correct conclusion. 

On the introduction of the Saxons, about twenty-four years since, they 
were sought with avidity by the holders of the fine-wooled flocks of the 
country, consisting at that time of pure or grade Merinos. The Tariff" of 
1824 imposed a duty of 20 per cent, on wools costing above 10 cents per 
pound, gradually rising to 30 per cent., and 15 per cent, on those costing 
less than 10 cents. Foreign woolen cloths t were subject to an ad valorem 
duty of 30 per cent, until June 30th, 1S25, and after that it was raised to 331 
per cent. The Tariff" of 1828 immediately raised the duty on all wools to 40 
per cent, ad valorem and 4 cents per pound specific duty, and 5 per cent, 
was to be annually added to the ad valorem, duty, until it should reach 50 

* On account of the shortnePB of their wool, compared with the coarse breeds. 

t Where T uee the word " cloths " here and in the f-tatemmts of the diflerent Tariffs which follow, yoa 
Will understand that I do not Include caryetingB, blankets, worsted stuff goods, &c. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



159 



per cent, (in 1831.) The duty on woolen cloths was also raised (after June, 
1829) to 45 per cent., and that exceeding $4 the square yard to 50 per 
cent. Under the decisive encouragement offered to both the wool- 
grower and manufacturer by this Act, a gi'eat impetus was given to the 
production of the finest wools, and the Saxons everywhere rapidly su- 
perseded, or bred out by crossing, the Spanish Merinos. The latter dis- 
appeared almost entirely from New-York and New-England. In the 
fine-wool mania which ensued, weight of fleece, constitution, and every- 
thing else, were sacrificed to the quality of the wool. The Tariff of 1832 
imposed a 40 per cent, ad valorem and 4 cents per pound specific duty on 
wools costing over 8 cents ; and it raised the duty on all broadcloths to 50 
per cent. It made wools costing less than 8 cents per pound free of duty. 
The "Compromise" Tariff of 1833 commenced a system of progressive 
reductions until the maximum rate of duties should not exceed 20 per 
cent. The following Table will give the duties of each year, on wool 
and cloths, under this Act, estimating the ad valorem and specific duties 
on wools exceeding 8 cents, together in an average per centage :* 

TABLE 14. 





Perct 
ad val. 


1833 


1835. 


1837. 


1839. 


1841. 


1842. 


Wool costing less than 8 cents per pound ) 


free. 

54 
50 


free. 

50-60 
47 


free. 

47-20 
44 


free. 

43-80 
41 


free. 

40-40 
38 


free. 

30-20 
29 


20 

20 
20 


Wool costing over 8 cents per pound 

Woolen cloths 



The Tariff of 1841 struck out the 20 per cent, duty on the 8 cent wools. 
The Tariff of 1842 again imposed an ad valorem duty of 5 pe» cent, on 
wools costing seven cents or under, and raised it on the higher wools to 30 
per cent, ad valorem and 3 cents per pound specific duty, and on cloths to 
40 per cent, ad valorem. The Tariff of 1846 established an ad valorem, 
duty of 30 per cent, on all wools, and on cloths. By refening to Table 
7, Letter V., it will be seen that the prices of wool have not been controlled 
by the amount of the protection. They reached their maximum in 1836, 
and then fell off, not again to rally, (except during the single year 1839) — 
not again to reach 40 cents — until 1844. Why was this % What pro- 
duced the sudden depreciation of 1837 % The Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 
gave too 'much protection to both wool-grower and manufacturer. Their 
pursuits became the El Dorado of agricultural and mercantile speculators. 
Skill without capital, and capital without skill, and in some cases probably 
thirst of gain Mathout either, rushed into these favoted avocations. The 
bank inflations of the period fanned the fires of speculation, and taught 
some of the wisest commercial heads of the country to forget the provi- 
dence that had hitherto distinguished them. The natural result followed. 
In the financial crisis of 1837, manufacturing, and all other monetary en- 
terprises which had not been conducted with skill and providence, and 
which were not based on adequate and real capital, wei'e involved in a 
common destruction, and even the solidest and best conducted institutions 
of the country were shaken by the fury of the explosion. Wool suddenly 
fell almost 50 per cent, (from 54 to 30 cents per pound.) t In 1838 it ral- 
lied a little, and in 1839 it again reached 50 cents, but it went down nearly 
to the minimum point in 1840. The grower began to be discouraged. 
He who bred the delicate Saxons, (and, as I have already said, they now 
comprised the flocks of nearly all the large wool-growers in the country,) 

* The reduction of one-tenth of the excess over 20 per cent, took place Dec. Slst. each year, to 1841 ; then 
one-half of the residue of the excess ; and on the 30th of June, 1842, the other half of said residue was de- 
ducted. 

t l"he quality of the wools here alluded to will be found specified in a note on the second page of 
Letter V. 



160 ' SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



was not obtaining the actual first cost per pound of his wool. He clam- 
ored loudly for an increase of duties on the foreign article, as the reduc- 
tions of the " Compromise" Act were now approaching their ultimate 
standard— 20 per cent.— and he attributed the low prices to this cause: 
Saxon wool continued low, and did not pay its first cost in 1841 and 1842* 
Was this due solely to the reduction of the Tariff] A reference to Table 
11 (Letter IX.) will show that the import of foreign woolens was less from 
- 1836 up to and including 1842, than for the six preceding years ! Where 
then was the foreign competition which was driving the manufacturer to 
keep down the price of wools ? The Tarift' of 1842 raised the duty on 
wool 10 per cent, and added a specific duty of 3 cents per pound ; and it 
raised the duty on cloths from 20 to 40 per cent. The import of 'foreign 
woolens sunk, the succeeding year, to a lower point than it had touched 
since 1821, and in 1844 and 1845 it did not reach the average of the six 
years preceding the enactment of the Tariff of 1842. A reference to 
Table 9 (Letter IX.) will show that the import of foreign fine wools also 
largely fell off. This coincided with the expectations of the advocates of 
a higher Tariff, but another and equally legitimate expectation entertained 
by the great body of Northern wool-growers— that they were to share in 
the benefits arising from the exclusion of foreign competition was sig- 
nally disappointed. The Tariff" of 1842 was enacted on the 30th day of 
August, and part of the clip of that year was sold under its operation 
Wool sold that year loiver than it had for the five preceding years, viz., for 
30 cents. The next year it advanced one penny ! General discourage- 
ment noAV seized upon the growers of fine wool. The market was not 
overstocked— foreign competition was light, but still they could not sell 
their wool for its first cost ! To add to their mortification, the manufac- 
turer, by a most short-sighted policy, would scarcely make a discrimina- 
tion of 6d. per pound between Saxon wool and medium Merino and o-rade 
wools weighing nearly twice as much to the fleece. If the grower o1" me- 
dium wool got 25 cents per pound for fleeces weighing 4 lbs.— thus real- 
izing $1 per fleece— the ordinary Saxon grower would get but 30 cents 
per pound for fleeces weighing 2\ lbs., and thus realize but 75 cents ' * 
When the Saxon growers found that the Tariff" of '42 brought them no 
relief, they began to give up their costly and carefully nursed^flocks. The 
example, once set, became contagious, and there was a period when it 
seemed as if all the Saxon sheep of the country would be sacrificed to 
this reaction. Many abandoned wool-growing altogether, at a heavy sacri- 
fice of their fixtures for rearing sheep. Others crossed with coarse-wooled 
breeds, and rushing from one extreme to the other, some even crossed 
with the English mutton breeds ! Some more judiciously went back to 
the parent Merino stock, but usually they selected the heaviest and 
coarsest wooled Merinos, and thus materially deteriorated the character of 
their wool. As the preceding period had been distinguished by its mania 
iox fine wool, this was, by its mania for heavy fieeces !\ The Eno-lish 
crosses, however, were speedily abandoned.^ The Merino regained his 

• And thouch the larger, stronger sheep, bcsring the medium wool, would eat more, it was far hardier 
required less protection and care of every kind, and would increase more rapidly— circumstances which 
would far more than counterbalance its excess of consumption 

t I make no claim of havintr possessed greater sagacity or foresight in these particulars than the ma«s of 
breeders. I brgan with the Merino. These I crossed with the Saxon, and I also bred the pure-blood Sax- 
ons lor several years. Unsatisfied with these, I made some experiments with the English mutton breed's 
both as pure bloods and crosses. Kinding none of them equal to the Merino as a wool-producin^ sheen I 
returned to the latter, and I bred for heavy fleeces until the manufacturers saw fit to make a iuster discrim 
inalion in the prices paid by them for the diflerent qualities of wool. 

* I mean by those who sousht to improve their fine-wooled flocks by an English cross. English and all 
other coarse-wooled sheep are immensely and rapidly improved, for wool-growing purposes, by a DrODer 
fine-wooled cross, as 1 have already and shall again have occasion to mention ■- •" •^ ^ f f -^ 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 161 



supremacy, lost for nearly twenty years, and again became the popular 
favorite. It was generally adopted by those who were commencing flocks 
in the new Western States, and gives its type to the sheep of those re- 
gions. 

It will be seen from the preceding facts that the supply of fine wool* 
has proportionably decreased, and that of medium and coarse increased. 
This has driven the manufacturers to make a juster discrimination in 
prices. They now realize that their own short-sighted economy has been 
all but fatal to fine wool-growing in the United States. And they cannot 
but feel that in destroying this interest, they destroy themselves. Our 
manufacturers are not so miserably blind as to dream of drawing their raw 
material from foreign countries — of paying an import duty of 30 per cent, 
and then competing with the English manufacturer who pays an import duty 
not exceeding two pence per pound ! It is doubtful, in my mind, whether 
the home supply will not fall considerably short of the home demand for 
fine wool /or this year .'t The point has been already reached where but 
a little more discouragement, or a little longer continved discouragement, 
would have banished these wools from the country ! So far, the manufac- 
tories have not felt this evil, for they have not been compelled to import. 
Neither pampered nor persecuted by the Tariff of 1846 — called for by the 
consumption of the country — with solid capital and greater experience 
and skill at their command — they are rapidly increasing, and rising on a 
solider basis than ever before. So, to sustain otir mamtfacturing interest, 
(that engaged in the manufacture of fine cloths,) it is absolutely necessary 
that the diminution of /we wools be not only immediately arrested, but 
that the growth of them be immediately and largely increased. These 
facts now first beginning to be clearly appreciated by the manufacturei- — 
will deter him from resorting to his former suicidal policy. Instances have 
recently come to my knowledge of manufacturers offering to contract 
with fine-wool growers for their entire clips, for a term of years, at an ad- 
vance on present prices — prices, be it remembered, higher than they havo 
been except for two years (1839 and 1844) since the overthrow of 1837. 
Should the manufacturer, however, again forget his own interest, the fine- 
wool grower has it in his power to teach it to him most effectually. In- 
stead of being discouraged and driven from the business, he has but to 
withhold his wools for a season — say for a few months, to compel the for- 
mer to import wools at a ruinous cost — stop his machinery, or pay fair 
prices at home ! I believe in no combinations to control piices. Some- 
thing far better than vague report, however, says that several of the large 
manufacturing establishments of New-England employed the same agents, 
last season, to buy much, if not all of their wools — and that these wools 
were subsequently divided by bidding or otherwise, among the parties to 
the transaction ! Is this denied 1 I think it will not be denied. If 
this was so, what was it but a combination to control prices If But whether 



* To make myaelf clearly understood, I will, in the remarks which follow, classify wools as follows : .<!u. 
Vtrfi.np the choicest quality of wool prown in the United States, and never grown here exccplin-: m com- 
paratively small quantities; /nc. good ordinary .^axon ; good nudium, the highest quality of wool usually 
known in the market as Merino; medium, ordinary Merino; ordivam, grade Merino and peihaps selected 
South-Down fleeces ; coarse, the English long wools. &c. This subdivision is not minute enouah, by any 
means, to express fully the number of well defined classes which exist in wool. A farther multiplicatioa 
of them here, however, I have thout;ht would only tend to confusion. 

1 The position has been all along taken that the general supply was under the demand, but the deficit 
hitherto has been principally in medium and coar-e wools. See 'I'able 9, Letter IX 

+ And before leaving this "point. I will ask another question : Why were most of the wools of New-York 
and New-F.n"land untouched and unlocked at by the agents of the manufnrturers this year, contrary to 
all preceding customs for two or three months subsequently to shearing ? These same agents flocked in 
droves to the Western States and bought up their entire clip immediately after shearing, while reports 
were constantly coming back that this'manufactory and that had purchased its entire supply for a year, or 
nerhaps two years ? Was this because the Eastern growers demanded exorbitant prices ? Was it because 
aoythuig like an approach to a supply of fine wools could be found in the West? Or was it the result of a 



162 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

so or not, when we compare the profits which have inured to the growers 
and manufacturers of fine wool for the last few years, it behooves the for- 
mer both to speak and aci decidedly. Their inteiests have been sacrificed 
long enough ! But it is to be hoped that the grower of these wools will 
not be hereafter driven to the alternative of either suffering hiinself, or of 
defending himself by retaliatory measures. Some few of the manufac- 
turers have always, I believe, taken a high and liberal course. Enough 
others, as already remarked, now see the necessity of such liberality to 
prevent any combined or general effort to depress prices. 

Will the North again turn its attention to the giowth of superfine and 
fine wools^ — again supply the demand, and keep up with it as it increases 1 
Not unless stimulated by the inducement of 'extraordinary profits — not, 
certainly, against the competition of the South. The climate north of 41°, 
or, beyond all dispute, north of 42°, is too severe for any variety of sheep 
communly known, which bear either of these classes of wools. In fact, the 
only such variety, in anything like general use, is the Saxon ; and this is 
a delicate sheep, entirely incapable of safely withstanding our Northern 
winters, without good shelter, good and regularly administered food, and 
careful and skillful management in all other particulars. When the season 
is a little more than usually backward, so that grass does not start prior to 
the lambing season, it is difficult to raise the lambs of the mature ewes — 
the young ewes will in many instances disown their lambs, or, if they own 
them, not have a drop of milk for them ; and if in such a crisis, as it often 
happens, a notth-east or noith-west storm comes driving doWn, bearing 
snow or sleet on its wings, or there is a sudden depression of the temper- 
ature from any cause, no care will save multitudes of lambs from perish- 
ing.* And it will not do to defer the time of having them dropped to es- 
cape these evils, or they will not attain size and strength enough to pass 
safely through their first winter.t A few large sheepholders, whose farms, 
buildings, etc., have been arranged with exclusive reference to the rearing 
of these sheep, may continue to grow fine wool until driven from it hy the 
competition of the Soitth ; but many of these have recently adopted a 
Merino cross. The ordinary farmers, the small sheepholders, who, in the 
aggregate, grow by far the largest portion of our Northern wools, have im- 
bibed a deep-seated aversion — nay, a positive disgust — against the Saxon 
sheep. They have not the necessary fixtures for their winter protection, 
and they are entirely unwilling to bestow the necessary amount of care on 
them. Besides, mutton and wool being about an equal consideration with 
this class of farmers, they want larger and earlier maturing breeds. But, 
above all, they want a strong, hardy sheep, which demands no more care 
than their cattle. The strong, compact, medium-wooled Merino — or, per- 
haps still more generally, its crosses with coarse varieties, producing the 
wool which I have classified as ordinary — will be the general favorites. — 
The same reasons will weigh still more strongly in the North-west, where, 
as I have shown, the climate is a still worse one for delicate sheep. All 
these causes will tend to swell the amount of medium, ordinary and coarse 

concerted mn%-pmeiit to biinsr the Enftcin srower into tnkin? lapt yenr's i)rice.o ? It Bctually did so, in a 
multitude of instance? — or, he was contented to refeive the slightest advance on them ! This will be found 
true of nearly nil who sold soon after the market opened in the East. )f not the result of a concerted and 
combined movement, xhe general desertion of the Eastern and resort to the Western market by the manu- 
facturers was n most singular coincidence ! These mimufactnrers are now fain to jiurchase Eastern wools 
at a considirahlc advance from the prices of 184f) — and. as already hinted, it is hichly problematical, in my 
tnind, whether thi y will not be compelled to import at a still higher advance, to eke out a deficiency ! It is 
to be hoped that this will he the last Act in the drnma of fully and suicide played by our manufacturers. 

* Not even in close barns, and with constant attendance. 

t North of latitude 40°, it is necessary, as a sreneral rule, that lambs be dropped in the first half of May, to 
give them this requisite size and strencth Occasional cold storms come nearly every season up to that 
period, and not unfrequently up to the tirst of June. Mr. Grove was a decided advocate of early lambs, — 
He used to say that " it was better to lose two of them in the spring than one in the fall." 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 163 

wools. Though the reaction has been but recent, the market demand for 
medium and ordinary wools is now better supplied — nearer being glutted, 
so far as I am enabled to judge — than that for fine and superfine. And 
should the market become glutted with either or both, it is important to 
remember that the latter will be far more profitable for export than the 
former. 

Every consideration, then, in my judgment, points to wools ranging from 
good medium upward, instead of the lower classes, as the most profitable 
staples for cultivation in the South, The only question which now arises 
on this point is, from which variety, the Saxon or Merino, shall the South 
attempt to cultivate these wools % 

It is generally supposed, and as a general thing it is true, that the Me- 
rino bears no better wool than that which I have classified as good medi- 
um. But the measurements of Dr. Emmons (given in Letter X.) show, 
by the infallible testimony of the microscope, that heavy-fleeced Merinos 
sometimes equal — nay, surpass Saxons, in fineness. The fact is more de- 
cisive, as the Saxon fibres thei'e measured came not only from the most 
celebrated flocks — from the prize sheep at State Fairs — but it also came 
from samples, in most instances, given by the oivncrs for j9wi//c exldhition. 
I do not claim that Merinos like these are common. They are rather to 
be regarded in the light of those prodigies of excellence which occasion- 
ally appear, but which it is difficult to reproduce with anything like uni- 
formity. Nor are lesser fleeced Merinos, bearing wool equal to ordinary 
Saxon, very common. During the fine wool mania, all, who sought fine 
wool, bred the Saxon sheep, or crossed with it ; and the few who stood 
out, and clung to the Merino, generally aimed to distinguish it as widely 
as possible from the former, by increasing the weight of its fleece, to the 
disregard of its fineness. This, too, was the genei'al disposition during the 
heavy-fleeced mania. Of consequence, but very few of our breeders have 
ever, or until recently, sought a high degree of fineness in fleece in breed- 
ing the Merino. Recent experience has satisfied me that this is rapidly 
attainable. Mr. Lawrence, in a quotation already made by me (in Letter 
I.), says : " I believe a breed may be reared which will give four pounds 
of exquisitely fine wool to the fleece." I know by multiplied experiments 
that once interbreeding between an ewe bearing good medium wool (the 
fleece weighing, say, from 4^ lbs. to 5 lbs.), with a Merino ram of suffi- 
ciently high quality, will produce wool in the offspring equaling ordinary 
Saxon, and a fleece averaging 4 lbs., with none of its weight made up of 
gum. The result of tioo such interbreedings will bring the progeny of a 
heavy-fleeced medium ewe (provided her fleece is properly ei^en) to the 
same point. The four-pound fine-fleeced Merino would be a far more 
profitable animal than the Saxon, other things being equal. But other 
things are not equal. The former is every way a hardier animal, and a 
better nurse. It is about 20 ll)s. heavier, and therefore consumes more 
feed ; but I consider this additional expense more than counterbalanced 
by the additional care and risk attending the husbandry of the Saxon. If 
required to keep the number good, and give the proper attention to the 
rearing of lambs, I would sooner engage to keep, at the same price, 
one thousand such Merinos for a yeai", than to keep the same number of 
Saxons. 

It would be practicable, doubtless, to increase the Saxon's ffeece to 4 
lbs. ; but any one, familiar with such experiments, knows that it is far easier 
to increase fineness of wool, by diminishing weight of fleece and carcass a 
little, than it is to increase weight of fleece and carcass without lowering 
the quality of the wool. And there is this additional objection to the latter 



164 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

system of breeding, bo far as the Saxon is concerned. The breeder is not 
only called upon to increase the weight of its fleece and carcass, but to en- 
graft on it hardiness of constitution, nursing properties, etc., which by no 
means follow, as a matter of course, its improvement in the former partic- 
ulars. These, and particularly the latter, could only be attained, so as to 
be transmissible with a proper degree of certainty from parents to offspring, 
by years of breeding, accompanied by a rigorous course of selection. If, 
therefore, you were called upon X.oforin a vai'iety just suited to your wants, 
the Merino would present the most ductile and the safest materials. But 
the Southern agriculturist, just entering upon sheep-rearing, would not be 
prepared to conduct nice experiments in breeding. He wants a breed or 
variety already prepared to his hand. And for the same reasons, notwith- 
standing the fineness of his climate, he wants a hardy breed — one that de- 
mands no extra skill, no great experience, for its management. Merinos 
reaching or closely approaching the standard above specified are now to 
be found, while there is no corresponding variety of Saxons ; and to incur 
the risks arising from inexperience, want of preparation, &c., the superior 
hardiness of the former would, of course, render them entirely prefer- 
able. 

Some have recommended a cross between the Saxons and Merinos, as a 
cheap and ready method of obtaining a four-pound fine-fleeced sheep. A 
properly selected Saxon ram, crossed with good medium and medium- 
wooled Merino ewes, cutting from 5 lbs. to 5^ lbs. of wool, will almost uni- 
formly produce this result. And it is easier Jioro to get the Saxon than the 
Merino, fine enough for this purpose. Or a flock may be bred up from 
Saxon ewes and a Merino ram. The objection to both courses is the same, 
though not equal to that which exists against breeding the full-blood Sax- 
ons — viz., the production of a feeble and a poor nursing sheep. The latter 
evil, especially, clings for generations to these ci'oss-bred animals, so far as 
my experience and observation have extended. And unless Saxons are 
selected which do not possess the characteristic faults of the variety, the 
cross-breds are inferior to pure-blood Merinos in many otlicr and essential 
particulars, notwithstanding the fleece may be all that we desire. 

There is another important point where the pure-blood Merino possesses 
a marked advantage. Few Southern wool-growers will commence their 
flocks exclusively with high-bred animals of any kind. With a few of them 
to breed rams from, and to gradually grow up a full-blood flock, they will 
mainly depend upon grading up the common sheep of the country. With 
the long-legged, bare-bellied, open-wooled sheep common in the South (as 
it once was in the North^, the Saxon makes an indifferent cross. Their 
faults run too much in the same direction, in all save the fineness of wool, 
for, however good its shape, the wool of the Saxon is comparatively short 
and open. It therefore shortens the wool of the common sheep, without 
adding much or any to its thickness, and thus the fleece remains a light 
one. Precisely all this is the reverse of what results from a cross between 
the Merino and the common sheep. The wool is but little shortened, un- 
less the staple of the common sheep was very long ; it is essentially thick- 
ened ; it is made to extend- over the belly ; the fleece is, therefore, greatly 
inci-eased in weight ; the sheep is rendered more compact and "stocky," 
and it is brought nearer to the ground. Even the fiist cross, though its 
fleece is somewhat uneven, is a prime sheep for the wants of ordinary farm- 
ers, and among these it is, accordingly, a decided favorite, over the whole 
Northern States. A majority of them would, I think, give it preference 
over any other kind or variety of sheep. Two or three more proper Me- 
rino crosses raise it to the rank of a first-rate wool-growing sheep — scarcely 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 165 

inferior to the full-blood Merino in anything, save that it does not transmit 
its good qualities with quite so much certainty to its offspring* 

Let us now proceed to inquire what are the points which constitute ex- 
cellence, or mark a departure from it, in the class of Merino sheep which 
I have attempted to show form, in every point of view, the most suitable 
variety to commence wool-growing with in the South. What should be its 
size, weight of fleece, shape, general appearance, style of wool, &c. &c. ? 

Size, within extremes, is not, fcr se, a matter of much consequence. — 
There should, however, be uniformity in this particular, at least through 
the same flock, not only for their good appearance, but larger sheep are 
apt, by their superior strength, to crowd away small ones from the rack or 
trough. A sheep very small of its breed and family, is commonly less hardy. 
If very large, it must travel farther to fill itself ; and, therefore, this would 
be an objection to it in a breed designed to graze on short and scant paS' 
turage — for the extra exercise thus made necessary would cause it to waste 
(in the form of carbon, in the lungs) a considerable portion of the food, 
which would, under other circumstances, be converted into animal tissues. 
Very large, like very small animals, of the same species — and, I am in- 
clined to think, the former more frequently — lack the robustness, vigor of 
muscle, capacity to endure unusual and protracted exercise, or privation 
of food, or any other unfavorable deviation from ordinary habits, possessed 
by compact medium-sized animals. This rule will be found to apply among 
all domestic animals. Lastly, I am not prepared to prove, but I believe 
that, with the satne breeding, the woolly, like the osseous and muscular tis- 
sues of a large Merino sheep, will not be as fine as those of a smaller one. 
I do not found this opinion, so far as wool is concerned, upon, nor do 1 
claim that it is supported by, any analogies. I state it as solely the result 
of individual observation. If it is a tendency which can be successfully re- 
sisted, I never have been fortunate enough to have a sufficient number of 
instances brought under my eye, in any one flock, to have them constitute 
anything more than sparse exceptions to what I deem a well established 
rule. I have never known a family of very large Merinos bearing anything 
better than medium wool ; and the first step to any decided improvement 
in them immediately reduces their weight, for it can only be effected by 
interbreeding with finer and smaller families. Ewes weighing from 80 lbs. 
to 90 lbs. alive, in good fair store condition, are of about the proper size, 
in my judgment, where fine ivool is the object.t Rams should weigh 40 
lbs. or 50 lbs. more. Ewes of the large Merino families weigh fiora 100 
lbs. to 110 lbs. — the rams 50 lbs. more ; nor do even these equal the size 
of some of the late imported French Merinos. 

A relation analogous to the pi-eceding one, exists between the weight of 
the fleece and its quality. This point has already been sufficiently set 
forth on another page. The opinion is there expressed that the Merino may 
be easily bred, by judicious selection of sire and dam, to bear 4 lbs. of fine 
wool, or wool equaling ordinary Saxon. I would now add that, as a gen- 
eral rule, and in large flocks, I do not believe inore than this can be ob- 
tained, without a depreciation in the quality, among ewes. The ram's 
fleece should in all cases, in a very superior animal, be about double that 
of the ewe. Five per cent, of the live-weight of the carcass, with ewes, is 
the maximum weight of fine wool, which we can, in the present state of 
breeding, look for with any uniform certainty. This would give a fleece 
of 4 lbs. to 80 lbs. of live-weight,. As the fine-wool Merinos increase, and 
thus give a wider range and better selection of materials for nice experi- 

* The latter point will be more particularly adverted to in a eubeequent part of this Letter, 
t Saxona weigh about 20 lbs. less. 



166 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ments, it is very possible that the per ceiitage of the fleece may be increased, 
Mr. Lawrence, in speaking of attaining a four-pound fleece of " exquisite" 
quality, undoubtedly alluded to the wool which I have classed as superfine. 
The four-pound fleeced fine Merino can undoubtedly be made svperfine, 
by diminishing the weight of its fleece 10 or 12 ounces or a pound ; 
and even then it will be a hardier and better animal than the finer 
class of Saxons which now produce this wool. But whether Mr. Law- 
rence's standard can be fully attained, neither experience nor obser- 
vation enable me to decide. If it could, and the sheep be equal to the 
four-pound ^«c-fleeced Merino in other respects, we should have q. j^erfcct 
sheep. Such wool has sold this year at upward of 60 cents per pound, 
which would bring the fleeces to $2 40 a piece ! It may be well here to 
glance at the comparative worth of fleeces in the several Merino families, 
taking this year's prices, and taking the weights which are usually found 
accompanying the several qualities, in prime ordinary flocks. A five fleece 
of 4 lbs., at 50 cents,* would be worth ^2 ; good medium, weighing 4i 
lbs., at 40 cents. Si 80 ; medium, weighing 5 lbs., at 32 cents, SI 60. And 
the consumption of feed rises with the diminution of quality. Admittino- 
the daily consumption of hay for 150 days to be 3 per cent, to the live- 
weight, 100 fine Merinos, averaging 85 lbs. each, would consume about 19 
tons of hay; and 100 medium Merinos, averaging 105 lbs. each, would 
consume about 2o\ tons — an important diflerence in their relative ex- 
penses ! The fine-wooled Merino does not, like the Saxon, lose his ad- 
vantage in this particular by his inferior hardiness. 

The shape and general appearance of the Merino should "be as follows : 
The head should be well carried up, and in the ewe hornless. It would 
be better on many accounts to have the ram also hornless, but, being usu- 
ally characteristic of the Merino, many prefer to see them. The face 
should be shortish, broad between the eyes, the nose pointed, and in the 
ewe fine and free from wrinkles. The eye should be bright, moderately 
prominent, and gentle in its expression. The neck should be straight (not 
curving downward), short, round, stout — particularly so at its junction with 
the shoulder, forward of the upper point of which it should not sink below 
the level of the back. The points of the shoulder should not rise to any 
perceptible extent above the level of the back. The back, to the hips, 
should be straight ; the crojis (that portion of the body immediately back 
of the shoulder-blades) full ; the ribs well arched ; the body large and ca- 
pacious ; the flank well letdown; the hind-quarters full and round — the 
flesh meeting well down between the thighs, (or in the " twist.") The 
bosom should be broad and full ; the legs short, well apart, and perpendic- 
ular, {i.e., not drawn under the body toward each other when the sheep is 
standing.) A^iewed as a whole, the Merino should present the appearance 
of a low. stout, plump, and — though diftering essentially from the English 
mutton-sheep model — a highly symmetrical sheep. 

The skin is an important point. It should be loose, singularly mellow, 
of a rich, delicate pink color. A colorless skin, or one of a tawny, ap- 
proaching to a butternut hue, indicates bad breeding. On the subject of 
wrinkles, there is a difference of opinion. Being rather characteristic of 
the Merino — like the black color in a Berkshire hog, or the absence of all 
color in Durham cattle — these wrinkles have been more regarded, by nov- 
ices, than those points which give actual value to the animal ; and shrewd 
breeders have not been slow to act upon this hint ! Many have contended 
that more wool can be «>btained from a wrinkled skin ; and this is the view 

* This is not high for_^we Merino wool. Thoueh I sold my lot for 42 cents, I was offered 50 cents for the 
fleeces of nearly all my laier-brcd sheep, if I would sell them separately. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 167 

of the case which has induced both the Spanish and French breeders to 
cultivate them — the latter to a monstrosity. I confess that I agree, to a 
considerable extent, with Mr. Joshua Kirby Trimmer,* that " this idea is 
as wild as that which some of our theorists have entertained, that, by lay- 
ing lands in high ridges and low furrows, the surface of the earth and its 
produce is increased." Though I once entertained a different opinion, the 
steel-yards have satisfied me that an exceedingly wrinkled neck does not 
add but a little to the weight of the fleece — not enough to compensate for 
the deformity, and the great impediment which it places in the way of the 
shearer, I have owned rams, the labor of shearing six of which, in a nice 
and workmanlike manner — cutting the wool off" short and smooth, on and 
among the multitude of folds and wrinkles — was fully equivalent to shear- 
ing fifteen ordinary Merino rams, or twenty-five ewes — that is to say, a 
day's work for one man. And none but a skillful shearer could, with any 
time given him, clip the wool short and smooth among the wrinkles, with- 
out frequently and severely cutting the skin. A smoothly drawn skin, and 
absence of all dewlap, on the other hand, would not, perhaps, be desirable. 

The wool of the Merino should densely cover the whole body, where it 
can possibly grow, from a point between and a little below the eyes, and 
well up on the cheeks, to the knees and hocks. Short wool may show, 
particularly in young animals, on the legs, even below the knees and 
hocks — but long wool covering the legs, and on the nose below the 
eyes, is unsightly — without value — and on the faces it frequently impedes 
the sight of the animal, causing it to be in a state of perpetual alarm, 
and disqualifying it to escape real danger. Neither is this useless wool, 
as seems to be thought by some, the slightest indication of a heavy fleece. 
I have as often seen it on Saxons scarcely shearing 2 lbs. of wool, and on 
the very lightest fleeced Merinos. 

The amount of gum which the wool should exhibit, is another of the 
mooted points. Here, as in many other particulars, experience has 
changed my earlier impressions. Merino wool should be yolky or " oily," 
prior to washing — though not to that extreme extent, giving it the ap- 
pearance of being saturated with grease, occasionally witnessed. The 
extreme tips of the wool may exhibit a sufficient trace of gum to give the 
fleece a darkish cast — particularly in the ram — but a black, pitchy gum, 
resembling semi-hardened tar, extending an eighth or a quarter of an inch 
into the fleece, and which cannot he removed in ordinary ivashing, is, in my 
opinion, decidedly objectionable. There is a white or yellowish concrete 
gum, not removable by common washing, which appears in the interior of 
"■some fleeces, which is equally objectionable. 

The weight of fleece remaining the same, medium length of staple, with 
compactness, is preferable to long, open wool, inasmuch as it constitutes 
a better safeguard from inclemencies of weather, and better protects the 
sheep from the bad effects of cold and drenching rains in spring and fall. 
The wool should be as nearly as possible of even length and thickness 
over the whole body. Shortness on the flank, and shortness or thinness 
on the belly, are serious defects. ' 

" Evenness of fleece " is a point of the first importance. Many sheep 
exhibit good wool on the shoulder and side, while it is far coarser and 
even hairy on the thighs, dewlap, &c. Rams of this stamp should not be 
bred from by any one aiming to establish a superior fine-wooled flock, and 
all such ewes should be gradually excluded from those selected for 
breeding. 

The "style of the wool" is a point of as much consequence as mere 

* " Practical Observations on the Improvemant of British Fine Woole, &c." by the aboTC, 1828, 



l^S SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



fineness. Some very fine wool is stiff and the fibres almost straight, like 
hair. It has a dry, cottony look. This is a poor, unsalable article, how- 
ever fine the fibre. Softness of wool— a delicate, silky, highly elastic feel 
between the fingers or on the lips, is the first thing to look after. This is 
usually an index, or inseparable attendant, of the other good qualities so 
that an experienced judge can decide, with little difliculty, between 'the 
quality of two fleeces, in the dark ! Wool should be finely serrated or 
crimped from one extremity to the other— e. e., it should present a regular 
series of minute curves, and, generally, the greater the number of these 
curves in a given length, the higher the quality of wool in all other 
particulars. The wool should open on the back of the sheep in connected 
masses, instead of breaking up into little round spiral ringlets of the size 
of a pipe-stem, which indicate thinness of fleece; and when the wool is 
pressed open each way with the hands, it should be dense enough to con- 
ceal all but a delicate rose-colored line of skin. The interior of the wool 
should be a pure, glittering white, with a lustre and "liveliness " of look 
not surpassed in the best silk. 

The points in the form of the Merino which the breeder is called upon 

particularly to eschew, are— a long, thin head, narrow between the eyes 

a thin, long neck, arching downward befine the shoulders — bad crops 

back falling behind the shoulders — narrow loin — flat ribs — steep, narrow 
hind quarters — long legs— thighs scarcely meeting at all — legs drawn far 
under the body at the least approach of cold. All these points were sep- 
arately or conjointly illustrated in many of the Saxon flocks which have 
been recently swept from the country. The points to be avoided in the 
fleece have been sufficiently adverted to. 

Having thus attempted to establish a standard for the Merino-breeder, 
it remains that we examine some of the most important principles, in 
breeding, by which that standard is to be reached or maintained. 

The first great starting-point, among pure-blood animals, is that "like 
will beget like." If the sire and dam are perfect in anv given point, the 
offspring will generally be ; if either is defective, the offspring will (sub- 
ject to a law presently to be adverted to) be half way between the two; 
if both are defective in the same point, the progeny will be more so than 
either of its parents— it will inherit the amount of the defect in both pa- 
rents added together. There are exceedingly few perfect animals. Breed- 
ing, then, is a system of counterbalancing — breeding out — in the offspring, 
the defects of one parent, by the marked excellence of the other parent' 
tn the same points. The highest blood confers on the parent possessing it 
the greatest power of stamping its own characteristics on its progeny ; but 
blood being the same, the male sheep possesses this power in a o-reater 
degree than the female. We may, therefore, in the beginning%reed 
from ewes possessing any defects short of cardinal ones, without impro- 
priety, provided we possess the proper ram for that purpose ; but the 
flockmaster, aiming at a high standard of quality, should gradually throw 
out from breeding all ewes possessing even considerable defects. Every 
year should make him more rigorous in his selection. But from the be- 
ginning — and in the beginning more than at any other time— the greatest 
care should be evinced in the selection of the ram. If he has a defect, 
that defect is to be inherited by the whole future flock. If it is a material 
one, as, for example, a hollow back, bad crops, a thin fleece, or a highly 
uneven fleece, the flock will be one of low quality and little value. I^ on 
the other hand, he is perfect, the defects in the females will be lessened, 
and gradually bred out. But it being diflScult to ^x\A perfect rams, we are' 
to take those which have the fewest and lightest defects, and none of 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 169 

these material ones, like those just enumerated. And these defects are to 
be met and countei'balanced by the decided excellence (sometimes running 
to a fault) of the ewe, in the same jioints. If the ram is a little too long- 
legg-ed, the shortest-legged ewes should be selected for him ; if gummy, 
the dryest-wooled ewes ; if his fleece is a trifle below the proper standard 
of fineness, (but he has been retained, as it often happens, for weight of 
fleece and general excellence,) he is to be put to the finest and lightest 
fleeced ewes, and so on. Having a selection of rams, this system of coun- 
terbalancing would require little skill, if each parent possessed but one 
fault. If the ewe was a trifle too thin fleeced, and good in all other par- 
ticulars, it would require no nice judgment to decide that she needed to be 
bred to an uncommonly thick-fleeced ram. But most animals possess, to 
a greater or less degree, several defects. To select so that every one of 
these in the dam shall meet its opposite in the male, and vice versa, re- 
quires not only plentiful materials to select from, but the keenest dis- 
crimination. The time and the convenient method of selecting the ewes 
for the several rams, and the subsequent management, will be hereafter 
pointed out. 

We will now suppose that the breeder has established his flock — that 
he has done so successfully, and given them an excellent character. He 
is soon met with a serious evil. He must " breed in-and-in," as it is called 
— that is, interbreed between animals more or less nearly related in blood 
— or he must seek rams from other flocks, to the risk of losing or changing 
the distinctive character of his flock, hitherto sought so sedulously, and 
built up with so much care. It is contended by the opponents of in-and-in 
breeding that it renders diseases and all other defects hereditary, and that 
it tends to decrease of size, to debility, and a general breaking up of th© 
constitution. Its apologists, on the other hand, insist that, if the parents 
are perfectly healthy, incestuous connexion does not, per se, tend to any 
diminution of healthiness in the offspring ; and they also claim, what must 
be conceded, that it enables the skillful breeder much more rapidly to 
bring his flock to a particular standard or model — and much more easily 
to keep it there — unless it be true that, in course of time, they will dwin- 
dle and grow feeble. So far as the effect on the constitution is concerned;, 
both positions tnai/ be, to a certain extent, true. But it is, perhaps, diffi- 
cult to always decide with certainty when an animal is not only fi-ee from 
disease, but from all tendency or predisposition toward it. A brother and 
sister may be apparently healthy — may be actually so — but may possess 
an idiosyncrasy which, under certain circumstances, will manifest itself. — 
If these circumstances do not chance to occur, they may live, apparently 
possessing a robust constitution, until old age. If bred together, their off- 
spring, by a rule already laid down, will possess the idiosyncrasy in a 
double degree. Suppose the ram be interbred with sisters, half-sisters^ 
daughters, grand-daughters, &c., for several generations, the predisposition 
toward a particular disease — in the first place slight, now strong, and con- 
stantly growing stronger — will pervade, and become radically incorporated 
into, the constitution of the whole flock. The first time the requisite ex- 
citing causes are brought to bear, the disease breaks out, and, under such 
circumstances, with peculiar severity and malignancy. If it be of a fatal 
character, the flock is rapidly swept away ; if not, it becomes chronic, or 
periodical at frequently recurring intervals. The same remarks apply, in 
part, to those defects of the outward form which do not at first, from theip 
slightness, attract the notice of the ordinary breeder. They are rapidly 
increased until, almost before thought of by the ovmer, they destroy the 
value of the sheep. That such are the commou effects of in-and-in breed* 

Y 



170 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ing, with sucli skill as it is ordinarily conducted, all know who have given 
attention to the subject; and for these reasons the system is looked upon 
with decided disapprobation and repugnance, as among all kinds of domes- 
tic animals, by nine out of ten of the best practical farmers of the Northern 
•States. 

How, then, shall the sheep-breeder avoid the effects of in-and-in breed- 
ing, and at the same time preserve the character of his flock 1 He should 
do so by seeking rams of the same breed, and possessing, as nearly as pos- 
sihle, the characteristics which he wishes to preserve in his own flock. If the 
latter rule is neglected — if he draws indiscriminately from all the different 
families or varieties of a breed — some large and some small — some long 
and some short-wooled — some medium and some superfine in quality — 
Bome tall and some squabby — some crusted over with black gum, some 
entirely free from it, &c. &;c. — breeding will become a mere hotch-potch, 
and no certain or uniform results can be looked for. So many varieties 
cannot be fused into one, for a number of generations ;* and it not unfre- 
quently happens, as between the different classes of Saxons alluded to by 
Mr. Spooner,t that certain families can never be successfully amalgamated. 

But suppose the breeder has reached no satisfactory standard — that his 
sheep are deficient in the requisites he desires 1 If the desired requisites 
are characteristic of the breed he possesses, he is to adhere to the breed, and 
select better animals to improve his own inferior ones. If he has an infe- 
rior flock of South-Downs, and wishes to obtain the qualities of the best 
South Dams, he should seek for the best rams of that breed. But if he 
wishes to obtain qualities not characteristic of the breed he possesses, he 
must cross with a breed tvhich does possess them. If the possessor of South- 
Downs wishes to convert them into a fine-wooled sheep similar to the Me- 
rino, he should cross his flock steadily with Merino rams — constantly in- 
creasing the amount of Merino and diminishing the amount of South-Down 
blood. To effect the same result, he would take the same course with the 
common sheep of the country, or any other coarse race. There are 
those who, foj-getful that some of the finest varieties now in existence, of 
several kinds of domestic animals, are the result of crosses, bitterly inveigh 
against the practice of crossing, under any and all circumstances. As fre- 
quently conducted, where objects incompatible with each other are sought 
to be attained — as, for example, an attempt to unite the fleece of a Merino 
and the carcass of a Leicester, by crosses between those breeds — it is an 
unqualified absurdity. But under the limitations already laid down, and 
with the objects specified as legitimate ones, objection to crossing savors, 
in my judgment, of prejudice the most profound, or quackery the most 
unvarnished. The cry, " buy full-bloods," with such men, generally means, 
*' buy our full-bloods ! " It is neither convenient, nor within the means of 
eveiy man wishing to start a flock of sheep, to start exclusively with full- 
bloods. With a few full-bloods to breed rams from, and to begin a full- 
blood flock, the Southern breeder will find it his best policy to purchase 
the best common sheep of his country, and gradually grade them up with 
Merino rams. In selecting the ewes, fair size, good shape, and a robust 
constitution, are the main points — the little difference that exists between 
the quality of the common sheep's wool is of no consequence. For their 
wool they are to look to the Merino ; but good form and constitution they 
can and ought to possess, so as not to entail deep-rooted and entirely un- 
necessary evils on their progeny. 

* This occasions ihe want of uniformity in the Rambouillet flock in France, which was begun by a pro. 
miscuous admixture of all the Spanish families. 
t Quoted in Letter X. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 171 

I have already spoken, in this Letter, incidentally, of the effect on the 
fleece of the common sheep, by crossing with the Merino and breeding 
steadily toward the latter ; and also of the mutton of this cross, as 
well as that of the Merino and the English breeds. The result of 
the cross with the common sheep has been sufficiently described. I would 
add a few remarks in relation to that with the South-Down and Leicester 
— both of which I have tried until sufficiently satisfied with the result. 
Resolved on making an experiment with a Down and Merino cross, a few 
years since, and finding it difficult to obtain Down ewes* of the proper 
quality, I obtained a small, compact, exceedingly beautiful, fine and even- 
fleeced Down ram,t and crossed him with a few large-sized Merino ewes. 
The half-blood ewes were bred to a Merino ram, and also their female 
progeny, and so on. The South-Down form and disposition to take on 
fat manifested itself, to a perceptible extent, in every generation which I 
bred,J and the wool of many of the sheep in the third generation (|^-blood 
Merino and i-blood Down) was very even, and equal to medium, and 
some of them to good medium Merino. Their fleeces were lighter than 
the full-blood Merino, but increased in weight with each succeeding cross 
back toward the latter. Their mutton of the first, and even the second 
cross, was of a beautiful flavor — and it retained some of the superiority of 
South-Down mutton to the last. 

1 at the same time purchased a few Leicester ewes,|| and, as in the 
preceding case, taking one cross of the blood, I bred toward the Merino. 
The mongrels, to the second generation (beyond which I did not breed 
them) were about midway between the size of the two parent stocks — 
with wool shorter, but far finer and more compact than the Leicester — 
their fleeces about the same in weight as in the present stocks§ — and alto- 
gether they were a showy and profitable sheep, and well calculated to 
please the mass of farmei's. Their fleeces lacked evenness — their thighs 
remaining disproportionately coarse and hairy ; and making up my mind 
that this would always be a tendency of the sheep of this cross, 1 aban- 
doned them without farther experiment. 

In relation to the number of crosses necessary before it is proper to 
breed from a mongrel ram, there is a difference of opinion. Mr. Livings- 
ton says :^ 

" It is now so well established as not even to admit of the smallest doubt that a Merino in 
tlie fourlh generation, from even the worst-wooled ewes, is in every respect equal to the 
stock of the sire. No ditference is now made in Europe in the choice of a ram, whether he 
is a full-blood or a fifteen-sixteenths." .... " The French agriculturists say that however 
coarse the fleece of the parent ewe may have been, the progeny in the fourth generation 
will not show it." 

I am constrained to differ with even this high authority. I admit that 
the only value of blood or pedigree, in breeding, is to insure the hereditary 
transmission of the properties of the parent to the offspring. As soon as 
a mongrel reaches the point where he stamps his characteristics on his 
progeny, with the same certainty that a full-blood does, he is equally 
valuable, provided he is, individually, as perfect an animal. But I do not 

* To carry out the commonly received principle in breeding, that in crossing between different races the 
ram of the smaller should be put to ewe of the larger one. 

t This ram, obtained from Francis Rotch, Esq., was got by a prize ram of Mr. Ellman's, and from one of 
his choicest breedin^-ewes. and showed infinitely more style, as well as fineness and evenness of wool, 
than the common Downs of our country. He was not larger than a large-sized Merino ram. 

I These I finally put otFto save myself the n-ouble of breeding several kinds of sheep on the same farm. 

\ Descended from the flock of the late Robert Adcock. of Otsego County, N. Y. — considered at the time 
equal to any flock in the State. 

4 That is, about 5 lbs. I have put down the Leicester fleece, in my description of the breed, at 6 lbs., as 
this is the amount generally claimed for them ; but in the few cases brought within my direct knowledge, 
they have never averaged it. My ewes above alluded to did not, I think, average quite 5 lbs. 

% Edsay on dheep, pp. 181, 183. 



172 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

believe that this can be depended upon, with any certainty, in rams of the 
fouith Merino cross. My only experience in this particular is in the ob- 
servation of other men's flocks who have bred with high-grade rams.* 
These have invariably lacked the style and perfection of thorough-bred 
flocks. The sixth, seventh, or eighth cross might be generally, and the 
last perhaps almost invariably, as good as pure-blood rams, but I confess 
I should still prefer to adhere to the latter. Pure blood is a fixed stand- 
ard, and were every breeder to think himself at liberty to depart from it, 
in his rams, each one more or less, according to his own judgment or 
caprice, the whole blood of the country would become adulterated. No 
man would be authorized to sell a ram of any cross, be it the tenth, or 
even the twentieth, as a full-blood. 

It is all-important for those commencing flocks either of full-bloods, or 
by crossing, to select the choicest rams. A grown ram may be made to 
serve II from 100 to 150 ewes in a season. A good Merino ram will, 
speaking within bounds, add more than a pound of wool to the fleece of 
the dam, on every lamb got by it, from a common-wooled ewe.§ Here is 
one hundred or one hundred and fifty pounds of wool for the use of a 
ram for a single season ! And every lamb subsequently got by him adds a 
pound to this amount. Many a ram gets, during his life, 800 or 1,000 
lambs ! Nor is the extra amount of wool all. He gets from 800 to 1,000 
half-blooded sheep, worth double their dams, and ready to be made the 
basis of another and higher stride in improvement. A good ram, then, is 
as important, and, it seems to Tne, quite as vahiable an animal as a good 
farm-horse stallion ! When the number of a ram's progeny are taken into 
consideration, and when it is seen over what an immense extent, even in 
his own direct offspring, his good or bad qualities are to be perpetuated, 
the folly of that economy which would select an inferior one is sufficiently 
obvious. 

Every one desirous of starting a flock will find it his best economy, 
where the proper flocks to draw rams from are not near him, to purchase 
several of the same hreed, of course, but of different strains of blood. Thus, 
ram No. 2 can be put on the offspring of No. 1, and vice versa; No. 3 can 
be put upon the offspring of both, and both upon the offspring of No. 3. 
The changes which can be rung on three distinct strains of blood, without 
in-and-in breeding close enough to be attended with any considerable dan- 
ger, are innumerable.^ But if these rams of different strains are bought 
promiscuously, without reference to similarity of characteristics, there 
may, and probably will be differences between them, and it might require 
time and skill to give a flock descended from them, a proper uniformity of 
character. Those who breed rams for sale should be prepared to furnish 
different strains of blood with the necessary individual and family uni 
formity. 

* I have never knowingly bred with any other ram than a pure-blood, of any stock, or for any purpose. 

ti By methods hereafter to be described. 

§ That is, if the ewe at 3 yeais old sheared 3 lbs. of wool, the lamb at the same age will shear 4 lbs. of 
wool. 

TT The brother and sister are of the mwic blood ; the father and daughter, half; the father and grand- 
daughter, one-fourth ; the father and great grand-daughter, one-eighth, and so on. Breeding between an- 
imals possessing one-eighth of the same blood, would not be considered very close breeding ; and it is not 
uncustomary, in rugged, well-formed families, to breed between those possessing one-fourth of the same 
blood. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 173 



LETTER XII. 

SUMMER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



Tagging— necessity of— method of doing it. ..Burs— how avoided... Lambing — time of— Inclosures for — 
Mechanical Assistance— when rendered— assisting the Lamb— Feeding— necessary care in— Warming- 
Foster Ewes... Pens..." Pinning". . .Numbering and Registering— advantages of— Von Thaer's System of 
Numbering — manner of doing it conveniently— Mr. Groves form of a Register.. .Castration and Docking 
— proper time and method.. .Washing— time— necessary apparatus — "wetting" — manner of washing — 
ordinary waste in subsequent cleansing.. Cutting the Hoofs— best time— implementa—method.. .Time 
between Washing and Shearing. . ..-hearing — proper cooveniences for— catcher's business — directions to 
shearer— general directions . . . Shearing Lambs — shearing Sheep semi-annually- objectionable practices . . . 
Doing up Wool— Wool Table and Trough — handling fleece— arrangement on table— folding— rolling— ty- 
ing— proper twine... Storing Wool— Wool-Room.. .Sacking Wool — methods.. .Sorting the Flock at shear, 
ing— how done... Marking Sheep— the proper way. ..Cold Storms after Shearing.. .Sun-scald. . -Ticks — 
how destroyed.. -Maggots— preventives... Cutting the Horns. . .Division of Flocks for Summer.. .Hop- 
pling— Clogging, &c..- Dangerous Rams.. .Fences... Salt.. .Tar.. .Water -..Shade... Weaning Lambs... 
Fall Feeding.. .Shepherd's Crook. 

Dear Sir : Agreeably to your request, and that of various other South- 
ern friends, I pi'oceed to give directions for the practical management of 
sheep " plain and minute enough for the guidance of those entirely unac- 
quainted with the subject." I will begin with their Summer Management.* 

Tagging. — If sheep are kept on dry feed through the winter, they will 
usually purge more or less, when let out to green feed in the spring. The 
wool around and below the anus becomes saturated with dung, which 
forms into hard pellets, if the purging ceases. But whether this takes 
place or not, the adhering dung cannot be removed from the wool in the 
ordinary process of washing. It forms a great impediment in shearing, 
dulling and straining the shears to cut through it when in a dry state, and 
it is often impracticable so to do. It is difficult to force the shears be- 
tween it and the skin, without frequently and severely wounding the latter. 
Occasionally, too, flies deposit their eggs under this mass of filth prior to 
shearing, and the ensuing swarm of maggots, unless speedily discovered 
and removed, will lead the sheep to a miserable death. 

Before sheep are let out to grass, each one should have the wool sheared 
from the roots of the tail down the inside of the thighs, 
over the surface included between the dotted lines in ^'s- 16. 

the cut. The wool should be sheared from off the en- 
tire bag of the ewe, that the newly dropped lamb may 
more readily find the teat, and from the scrotum, and 
so much space round the point of the sheath of the ram, 
as is usually kept wet. If the latter place is neglected, 
soreness and ulceration sometimes ensue from the con- 
stant maceration of the urine. 

Sometimes each tagger catches and holds his own 
Bheep, but it is, on the whole, better, I think, to have an assistant catch the 
sheep and hold them while they are tagged. The latter process requires 
a good shearer, as the wool must be cut off' closely and smoothly, or the 
object is but half accomplished, and the sheep will have an unsightly and 
ridiculous appearance, when the remainder of their fleeces is taken off"; 

* I have not thousht it necessary to mark with quotation points, various extracts in this Letter, from a 
series of Letters written by me a number of years since, and published in the " Valley Farmer." 




174 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



and, on the othei" hand, it is not only improper to cut the skin of a sheep 
at any time, but it is peculiarly so to cut that on the bag of an ewe near 
lambing. The wool saved by tagging will far more than pay the ex- 
penses of the operation. It answers well for stockings and other ordinary 
domestic purposes, or it will sell for something like half the price of fleece 
wool. 

Humanity and economy both dictate that care should be taken in han- 
dling sheep at all times, and it is especially important with ewes heavy 
with lamb. It is highly injurious and unsafe to chase them about and han- 
dle them roughly, for even if abortion, the worst consequence of such 
treatment, is avoided, they become timid and shy of being touched, render- 
ing it difficult to catch or render them assistance at the lambing period — > 
and even a matter of difficulty to enter the cotes where it is sometimes 
necessary to confine them at that time, without having them driving about 
pell-mell, running over their lambs, &c. It may not be known to every 
one, that if a sheep is suddenly caught by the wool when running, or is 
lifted by its wool, the skin is to a certain extent loosened from the body 
at the points where it is thus seized, and if killed a day or two afterward, 
blood will be found settled about those parts. A man knowing this, and 
subsequently guilty of such gratuitous brutality, richly deserves to be 
kicked out of tlie sheep-yard. When sheep are to be handled, they should 
be inclosed in a yard just large enough to hold them without their being 
crowded — so they shall have no chance to run and dash about. The 
catcher should stop them by seizing them by the hind leg close above the 
hock, or by clapping one hand before the neck and the other behind the 
buttocks. Then, not waiting for the sheep to make a violent struggle, he 
should throw his right arm over and about it immediately back of the 
shoulders, place his hand under the brisket, and lift the animal on his hip. 
If the sheep is very heavy, he can throw both arms around it, clasp his 
fingers under the brisket, and lift it up against the front part of his body. 
He then should set it carefully on its rump on the tagging-table, (which 
should be 18 or 20 inches high,) support its back with his legs, and hold 
it gently and conveniently until the tagger has performed his duty. Two 
men should not be permitted to lift the same sheep together, as it will be 
pretty sure to receive some strain between them. A good shearer and 
assistant will tag 200 sheep per day. 

Where sheep receive green feed all the year round, as they will do in 
many parts of the South, and no purging ensues from eating the newly- 
starting grasses in the spring, tagging will not be necessary. 

Burs, &c. — If sheep are let out in the spring into pastures where the 
dry stalks of the Burdock ( Arctmm lappa), or the Hound's Tongue, or 
Tory -weed ( Cynoglossum officinale), have remained standing over the win- 
ter, the burs are caught in their now long wool, and, if numerous, the wool 
is rendered entirely unmarketable, and almost valueless. Even the dry 
pi'ickles of the common and Canada thistles, where they are very numer- 
ous, get into the neck-wool of sheep, as they thrust their heads under and 
among them to crop the first scarce feed of the Northern spring ; and, in- 
dependently of iniuring the wool, they make it difficult to wash and other- 
wise handle the sheep. The Burdock being a large and not very frequent 
plant, there is no excuse for its being found on the farm. The Hound's 
Tongue is very prevalent in* forests and partly wooded pastures in the 
North, and it is not conspicuous enough to be easily eradicated, though 
careful sheep-farmers often do so. If sheep are let into pastures contain- 
in ^ it, it must be only in the summer and fall, after shearing. The burs, 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 175 

not sunk so deeply in the short wool, will wear out during our winters — 
but no man thinks of letting his sheep into pastures containing it, before 
shearing in the spring. Indeed, sheep should be kept on the cleanest pas- 
tures — those free from these and all similar plants — during this period ; 
and, in a region where they are pastured the year round, if such pests are 
not eradicated — which /should consider indispensable — the sheep should 
be kept from contact with them for some months prior to shearing. 

Lambing. — Lambs are usually dropped, in the North, from the first to 
the fifteenth of May. In the South, they might safely come earlier. It is 
not expedient to have them dropped when the weather is cold and boister- 
ous, as they require too much care ; but the sooner the better, after the 
weather has become mild, and the herbage has started sufficiently to give 
the ewes that green food which is required to produce a plentiful secretion 
of milk. It is customary in the Noith to have fields of clover, or the earli- 
est gi-asses, reserved for the early spring feed of the breeding ewes; and, 
if these can be contiguous to their shelters, it is a great convenience — for 
the ewes should be confined in the lattei', on cold and stormy nights, during 
the lambing season. 

If warm and pleasant, and the nights are warmish, I prefer to have the 
lambing take place in the pastures. I think sheep are more disposed to 
own and take kindly to their lambs thus, than in the confusion of a small 
inclosure. Unless particularly docile, sheep in a small inclosure crowd 
from one side to another when any one enters, running over young lambs, 
pressing them severely, &c. Ewes get separated from their lambs, and. 
then run violently round from one to another, jostling and knocking them 
about. Young and timid ewes get separated from their lambs, and fre- 
quently will neglect them for an hour or more before they will again ap- 
proach them. If the weather is severely cold, the lamb, if it has never 
sucked, stands a chance to perish. Lambs, too, when just dropped, in a 
dirty inclosure, in their first efforts to rise, tumble about, and the mem- 
brane which adheres to them becomes smeared with dirt and dung — and 
the ewe refuses to lick them dry, which much increases the hazard of 
freezing. 

Nevertheless, all this must be incurred in cold storms, and in sudden 
and severe weather ; and, therefore, it should be the effort of every shep- 
herd to teach his sheep docility. I have seen the late Mr. Grove walk 
about a barn filled with his Saxons, not only without their crowding from 
side to side, but many of them absolutely lying still while he stepped over 
them ! I say it " must be incurred." I mean by this that it is the safest 
course with all breeds, and a matter of necessity with others. It takes but 
a very moderately cold night to destroy the new-born Saxon lamb, which 
(the pure blood) is yeaned nearly as naked as a child ! During a severely 
cold pei'iod, of several days' continuance, it is almost impossible to rear 
them, even in the best shelter. The Merino, South-Down, and some other 
breeds, will endure a greater degree of cold with impunity. 

Inclosures, when used for yeaning, should be kept clean by frequent lit- 
terings of straw — not enough, howevei", thrown on at one time, to embar- 
rass the lamb about rising. 

The ewe does not often I'equire mechanical assistance in parturition. — 
Her labors will sometimes be prolonged for three or four hours, and her 
loud meanings will evince the extent of her pain. Sometimes she will go 
about several hours, and even resume her grazing, with the fore-feet and 
nose of the lamb showing at the mouth of the vagina. But, if let alone, 
Nature will generally finally relieve her. Tais might not do with the 



176 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

heavy English breeds. I should infer not, from the elaborate directions, 
in the premises, by Youatt, Blacklock, and other English waiters on Sheep; 
though with the comparatively small number of these varieties which I 
have bred, I have had no difficulty in this particular. Among the thou- 
sands and thousands of fine-vvooled sheep which I have bred, I never have 
known a single instance of a false presentation of the fcEtus, and never 
have had mechanical assistance rendered in to exceed half a dozen in- 
stances. The objection to interfering, except as a last resort, is that the 
ewe is frightened when caught, and her efforts to expel the lamb cease. — 
When aided, the gentlest force should be applied, and only in conjunction 
with the efforts of the ewe. 

While the lamb is tumbling about and attempting to rise, and the ewe 
is licking it dry, it is better to be in no haste to interfere. A lamb that 
gets at the teat without help, and gets even a small quantity of milk, knows 
how to help itself afterward, and rarely perishes. If helped, it sometimes 
continues to expect it, and will do little for itself for two or three days. — 
The same is true when lambs are fed from a spoon or bottle. 

But if the lamb ceases to make efforts to rise, particularly if the ewe has 
left off licking it while it is wet and chilly, it is time for the sliepherd to 
render his assistance. It is better not to throw the ewe down, as is fre- 
quently practiced, to suckle the lamb, because instinct teaches the latter to 
point its nose vjncard in search of the teat. It is doubly difficult, there- 
fore, to induce it to suck from the bag of the prostiate ewe ; and when 
taught to do this, by being suckled so several times, I have invariably no- 
ticed that it renders it awkward about finding the teat in the natural posi- 
tion, when it begins to stand and help itself. Nothing is stupider than a 
weakly lamb ! Carefully disengaging the ewe from her companions, with 
his crook, the assistant should place one hand before the neck and the other 
behind the buttocks of the ewe, and, then pressing her against his knees, 
he should hold her firmly and stilly, so that she shall not be constantly 
crowding away from the shepherd. The shepherd should set the lamb on 
its feet, inducing it to stand, if possible ; if not, supporting it on its feet by 
placing one hand under its body — place its mouth to the teat, and encour- 
age it to suck by tickling it about the roots of the tail, flanks, &c., with a 
finger. The lamb, mistaking this last for the caresses of its dam, will re- 
double its efforts to suck. Sometimes it will evince great dullness, and 
even apparent obstinacy, in refusing for a long time to attempt to assist 
itself, crowding backward, &c. ; but the kind and gentle shepherd, who 
will not sink himself to the level of a hnttc hy resenting the stiijnditij of a 
hrute, will generally carry the point by perseverance. Sometimes milking 
a little into the lamb's mouth, holding the latter close to the teat, will in- 
duce it to take hold. 

If the ewe has no milk, the lamb should be fed until the natural supply 
commences, with small quantities of the milk of a new-milch cow. This 
should be mixed, say half and half, with water — with enough molasses to 
give it the purgative effect of biestings, or the first milk — gently warmed 
to the natural heat (not scalded and suffered to cool), and then fed thiough 
a bottle with a sponge in the opening of it, which the lamb should suck, 
if it can be induced so to do. If the milk is poured in its mouth from a 
spoon or bottle, as already remarked, it is frequently difficult afterward to 
induce it to suck. And, moreover, unless milk is poured in the mouth 
slowly and with care — no faster than the lamb can swallow — a speedy 
wheezing, the infallible precursor of death, will show that a portion of the 
fluid has been forced into the lungs. I have known lambs frequently 
killed in this way. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 177 

If a lamb becomes chilled, it should be wrapped up in a woolen blanket, 
and placed in a warm room — giving a little milk as soon as it will swal- 
low. A trifle of pepper is sometimes placed in the milk, and 1 think with 
good effect, to rouse the cold and torpid stomach into action. Some of the 
Yankee old ladies, under such circumstances, " bake " the lamb, as it is 
called — i. e., put it in a blanket in a moderately heated oven, vmtil 
warmth and animation are restored. Others immerse it in tepid water, 
and subsequently rub it dry. This is said to be an excellent method 
where the lamb is nearly frozen. I never have tried it. A good blanket, 
a warm room, and sometimes, perhaps, a little gentle friction, have always 
sufficed. 

If a strong ewe, with a good bag of milk, chances to lose her lamb, she 
should be required to bring up one of some other ewe's pair of twins — or 
the lamb of some feeble or young ewe, having an inadequate supply of 
milk. Her own lamb should be skinned, as soon as possible after death, 
and the skin sowed over the lamb which she is required to foster. She 
will sometimes be a little suspicious for a day ov two, and if so, she should 
be kept in a small pen with the lamb, being occasionally looked to. After 
taking well to it, the false skin may be removed in three or four days. If 
no lamb is placed on a ewe which has lost her lamb, and which has a 
full bag of milk, the milk should be drawn from the bag once or twice, or 
garget may ensue. If it does not, permanent indurations, or other re- 
sults of inflammatory action will often take place, injuring the subsequent 
nursing pi'operties of the animal. When milked, it is well to wash the 
bag for some time in cold water. It checks the subsequent secretions of 
milk, as well as abates inflammation. Garget will be treated under the 
head of Diseases of Sheep. 

Sometimes a young ewe, though exhibiting suflficient fondness for hei 
lamb, will not stand for it to suck ; and in this case, if the lamb is not very 
strong and persevering, and especially if the weather is cold, it soon grows 
weak and perishes. The conduct of the dam in such cases is occasioned 
by inflammatory action abo'^t the bag or teats — and, perhaps somewhat by 
the noveJiy of her position ! In this case the sheep should be caught and 
held until the lamb has exhausted the bag, and there will not often be any 
trouble afteiward, though it may be w:ell enough to keep them in a pen 
together until the fact is determined. 

I have several times spoken o^ pens. They are necessary in the cases 1 
have mentioned, and in a variety of others. It is therefore well for the 
flock-master to be always provided with a few of them for emergencies. 
They need not be to exceed eight or ten feet square, and should be built 
of light materials, and fastened together at the corners, so they can be 
readily moved by one, or, at the most, two men, fi-om place to place, 
where they are wanted. Their position should be daily shifted when 
sheep are in them, for cleanliness and fresh feed. Light pine poles, laid 
up fence fashion, and each nailed or pegged to the lower ones, at the cor- 
ners, as laid on, would make excellent ones. Two or three sides of a few 
of them should be wattled with twigs, and the tops partly covered to shel- 
ter feeble lambs from cold rains, piercing winds, &c. 

Young lambs are subject to what is technically called " pinning," — that 
is, their first excrements are so adhesive and tenacious that the orifice of 
the anus is closed, and subsequent evacuations prevented. The adhering 
matter should be entirely removed, and the part rubbed Avith a little dry 
clay to prevent subseqvient adhesion. Lambs will frequently perish from 
this cause if not looked to for the first few days. 

Z ^ 



178 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

Numbering and Registering. — This is not absolutely necessaiy for the 
wool-grower, though it is, in many points of view, a vast convenience to 
him, and leads to a degree of system in his efforts after improvement, and 
gives a definiteness and precision to the execution of his plans, otherwise 
unattainable. But the breeder — he who makes it his business more par- 
ticularly to raise choice animals to sell for breeding purposes — is unwor- 
thy of the name, if he does not regularly number and register his sheep, 
so that he can trace the descent of any ram or ewe, through any number 
of generations. This is not merely to gratify an idle curiosit^, or to fui'- 
nish a purchaser with a sounding pedigree. Every breeder is under the ne- 
cessity of dii'ectly bi-eeding in-and-in, or of occasionally employing new 
strains of blood. If the latter step is often resorted to, the hazard is in- 
creased of changing the character of the flock.* If he numbers and regis- 
ters his sheep, he can breed " closer,"! and consequently longer, without a 
change, without the hazard of confusion or mistake. Where half a dozen, 
or even three or four rams are used in the flock the same year, it would be 
beyond the power of any breeder, relying on his memory alone, to decide, 
six or eight or ten years subsequently, which were the daughters, grand- 
daughters, and great-grand-daughters of each. If the rams A and B be un- 
related, A may be put to the daughters of B, and then B be put to the 
produce, (i. e., his own grand-daughter, got by A,) without "close" breed- 
ing — because they possess but one-quarter of the same blood. Then the 
great-grand-daughter may be again put to A, because she possesses but one- 
quarter of his blood. As I remarked in my last Letter, with three strains 
of blood to start with, the breeder may ring innumerable changes, without 
ever trenching on that line which marks the boundaries of close breeding. 
He who pretends that he can preserve such multiplied classifications in 
his memory alone, is unworthy of the least confidence. 

There is another very important consideration. Numbering and regis- 
tering enables the breeder to trace breeding ejects (\efimte]y to their causes. 
Suppose that he finds that an unusual number of his young ewes are 
poor nurses — or exhibit some imperfection of form or wool. He can re- 
move the present effect by throwing out the defective ones. But the undis- 
covered cause may still remain in operation. It may be a particular ram, 
or the result of interbreeding between such ram, and ewes of a certain 
strain of blood. If this ram, ov perhaps others got by him, be permitted to 
breed, or breed with a particular class of ewes, the evil creeps along in the 
flock, its cause remaining undiscovered. But if the breeder could fix the 
precise pedigree of every sheep, from an accurately kept register, he 
would soon ascertain what strains of blood, or the conjunction of what 
strains, produced the evil. By the same means, he could as readily trace 
the sources of paiticular excellence. 

The system of numbering invented by the celebrated Von Thaer is far 
preferable to any other which I have seen.| It is as follows : |1 

' A ram of a new strain of blood, though of prime quality, and apparently pos?e.ssins the same charac- 
terisstics with the Hnck, does not always intcrhreed well with the tlock in all those minute particulars which 
the breeder is bound to notice, thouah they might escape the eye of the ordinary flock-master. Every 
breeder, therefore, who has a flock thnt suits him, is exceedingly averse to an infusion of new blood, and 
resorts to it only as a matter of necessity. 

t That is, he can breed in-and-in somewhat. " Close" breeding is breeding between near affinities, such 
as between brother and ei.ster, which are of the same blood, or between a father and a grand-daughter be- 
gotten on a daughter, which would be three-fourths of the same blood. &c. 

X It will not cause half the mutilation of the system given in the American Shepherd — is simple, and 
gives the age. which the former does not. Neither can this system of giving the age be ingrafted on 
that system of numbering. 

II As furnished me by Mr. Grove, a number of years since, with this exception, that the point of the 
right ear cut square oft^ he made to stand for 700 instead of 500, as I have placed it. I made this change, 
as the notch and clip standing for 100 and 400, comipg on the point of the same ear, there was no com- 
bination tr> express 500. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



179 




No. 44—1841. 




One notch over the left ear, (that which is on your left when the 
face of the sheep is from you,) stands for 1 ; two notches over the 
same, for 2. One notch under the left ear stands 
for 3. Three such notches carry up the number 
to 9. One notch over the right ear stands for 10 ; 
two such for 20. One notch under the same stands 
for 30 ; and three such for 90. Combinations of the 
above (three notches under each ear) would carry 
up the number to 99. These four classes of notches 
which express all parts of a hundred, are shown in 
the first of the annexed cuts. A sheep marked 
like fig. 17 would be No. 44. 

A notch in the end of left ear, as in fig. 18,^ 
stands for 100 ; in right do. 200. In addition to 
these there are on the same cut two 1 notches, one 
3 notch, one 10 do., and two 30 Jo. Adding the 
whole together, the sheep would therefore be No. 
375. 

As the 100 and 200 notches, together, make 300, 
no separate notch is required for the latter number. 
The point of tlie left ear cut square off, as in fig. 19, 
cut, stands for 400 ; the point of the right cut square' 
off, for 500. The latter and the 100 notch would 
make 600, and so on. 

The lambs of each year and each sex are num- 
bered from 1. 

The age is expressed by round holes through 
the ears, standing for the year in which the sheep 
is born. As there is no possibility of making a 

mistake of ten years in the age of a sheep, these marks are the same be- 
tween each tenth year of the century. Between 1840 and 1850, no hole 
woilld express 1840 ; one hole in the left ear, 1841 ; two holes in the left 
ear, 1842 ; one hole in the I'ight ear, 1843 ; one hole in the right and one in 
the left, 1844 ; one hole in the right and two in the left, 1845 ; two in the 
right, 1846 ; two in the right and one in the left, 1847 ; two in each, 1848 ; 
three in the right, 1849 ; none in either, 1850 — and the same for the next 
ten years. Examples are given in the preceding cuts. In other words, 
one hole in the left ear signifies 1, and one in the right 3, as applied to 
the years between each tenth of a century — and the combinations of these 
holes are made to express all the intermediate years, with the exception 
of the tenth. 

Every ewe, when turned in with the ram, should be given a mark (en- 
tirely distinct from the mark of ownership) which will continue visible un- 
til the next sheaiing. Nothing is better for this purpose than Venetian 
Red and hog's lard, well incorporated, and marked on with a cob. The 
ewes for each ram require a differently shaped mark, and the mark should 
also be made on the ram, or a minute of it in the sheep-book. Thus it 
can be determined at a glance by what ram the ewe was tupped, any time 
before the next shearing. 

The holes in the ears, indicating the year, being the same on the whole 
annual crop of lambs, may be made at any convenient time. The holes 
are most conveniently made by a saddler's spring-punch, the cutting cyl- 
inder of which is about ^^ of an inch in diameter. If too small, the holes 
will grow up in healing. 

In numbering, it is difficult to prevent mistakes, if it is defeired until 



No. 909—1848. 



180 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the lamb attains much size. If penned with the dams when a month or 
two old, hours will sometimes elapse befoi'e each lamb will suck — the only 
certain indication to which ewe it belongs. It being perfectly safe to per- 
form this process when the lamb is only about a day old (or as soon as the 
lamb can walk, if it is a strong one), the shepherd carries the notcher in 
his pocket, and a little book, each page being ruled into six columns, and 
headed as in the register presently given. This constitutes the day-book, 
which is subsequently drawn off on the Register. 

The notcher which I use is of my own invention, and I have found it far 
preferable to any I have seen elsewhere. It consists of a saddler's spring- 
punch — the cutting cylinder being taken out, and a little sharp chisel of 
the same length being screwed in its place. The edge of the chisel de- 
scribes a semi-ellipsis, cutting a notch out of the ear 1 of an inch deep, and 
a little over j^g wide at the base. A triangular cut in the ear, with so nar- 
row a base, will grow together for some distance from the apex. This 
instrument is far more convenient thau'"a chisel and block. 

The shepherd, on finding a lamb of the right age to mark, goes quietly 
up to it, stopping it by the neck with his crook if it attempts to run away. 
Tlie ewe will come near enough, in a moment or two, to be secured by 
the crook, and then the shepherd notes her number and age, and enters it 
in his pocket-book, and also by what ram tupped. The lamb then is num- 
bered with the notcher, and this and its general appearance is noted down 
in the appropriate columns. If the ewe is too wild to be caught, the lamb 
may be notched — the number of the sire, &c., entered — and the number 
of the ewe subsequently ascertained in the pen. 

I have two forms of Breeding Registers, originally furnished me by my 
lamented friend, the late Mr. Grove. One contains ten columns, the other 
eight. I have adopted the simplest one, omitting two of the columns, 
which leaves the Register in the following form : 

BREEDING REGISTER— 1845. 



No. of 
Dam. 


Tupp'd by 
Ram No. 

16—39 


Date of 
Lambivg. 


No. of 
Rams. 


Lamb. 
Ewes. 


22—40 


May 4. 


1 




50—41 


25—42 


May 4. 




1 


6—42 


7—43 


May 5. 


2&3 




11—41 


7—43 


May 5. 







Classification and Remarks. 



Coarsish — wrinkly — thick, short-legged, and stout — 

bad crops — ewe plenty of milk, and kind. 
Fine — thin — long-legged — wool short — will lack 

constitution — ewe kind — little milk. 
' Small, but of good shape and fine wool — No. 3 
' wrinkly and like sire — No. 2 more like dam. — 
^ Ewe plenty of milk, but careless. 
'The lamb was born dead, very small. Same last 
' year. This ewe had better be thrown out of 
breeding. 



The first entry above records the following facts : " The ewe No. 22, 
born in 1840, tupped by the ram No. 16 of 1839, dropped on the 4th of 
May a ram lamb, which was marked No. 1, its character being as described 
under the head of ' Classification and Remarks.' " 

The column of " Remarks" is a very important one, if the minutes are 
made with accuracy and judgment. It should include an enumeration of 
all the prominent characteristics of the lamb, and of the appearances of 
the ewe as a breeder and nurse. These records will, in a single season, 
decide the character of a ram as a stock-getter, and that of the ewe, in a 
year or two, as a breeder and nurse. 

Emasculation and Docking. — These should usually precede washing, 
as at that period the oldest lambs will be about a month old, and it is safer 
to perform the operations when they are a couple of weeks younger. — 
Dry, pleasant weather should be selected. Castration is a simple and safe 

(644^ 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



181 



process. Let a man hold the lamb with its back pressed firmly against 
his breast and stomach, and all four legs gathered in fiont in his hands. — 
Cut off the bottom of the pouch, free the testicle from the inclosing mem- 
brane, and then draw it steadily out, or clip the cord with a knife, if it 
does not snap off at a proper distance from the testicle. Some shepherds 
draw both testicles at once with their teeth. It is common to drop a little 
salt into the pouch. Where the weather is veiy warm, some touch the 
end of the pouch (and that of the tail, after that is cut off) with an oint- 
ment, consisting of tar, lard, and turpentine. In ninety-nine cases out of 
a hundred, however, they will do just as well, here, without any application. 

The tail should be cut off, say one and a half inches from the body, with 
a chisel on the head of a block, the skin being slid up toward the body 
with a finger and thumb, so that it will afterward cover the end of the 
stump. Severed with a knife, the end of the tail being grasped with one 
of the hands in the ordinary way, a naked stump is left which it takes 
some time to heal. 

It may occur to some unused to keeping sheep, that it is unnecessary to 
cut off the tail. If left on, it is apt to collect filth, and, if the sheep purges, 
it becomes an intolerable nuisance. 



Washing. — This is usually done here about the first of June. The* cli- 
mate of the Southern States would admit of its being done earlier. The 
rule should be to wait until the water has acquired sufficient warmth for 
bathing, and until cold rains and storms, and cold nights, are no longer to 
be expected. 

Sheep are usually washed by our best flock-masters in vats. A small 
stream is dammed up, and the water taken from it in an aqueduct (formed 
by nailing boards together), and carried until sufficient fall is obtained to 
have it pour down a couple of feet or more into the vat. The body of 
water, to do the work fast and well, should be considerable — say 24 inches 
wide, and five or six deep — and the swifter the current the better. The 
vat should be say 3^ feet deep, and large enough for four sheep to swim 
in it. A yard is built near the vat, and a platform from the gate of the 
yard extends to and encircles the vat on three sides. This keeps the washer 

Fig. 20. 




WASHING APPARATUS. 



from standing in the water, and makes it much easier to lift the sheep in 
and out. The cut here given exhibits all the necessary appendages. The 



182 SHEEP HUSBANDRy IN THE SOUTH. 

yard is built opposite the corners of two fields (1 and 2), to take advantage of 
the angle of one of them (1), to drive the sheep more readily into the yard. 
(3). This yard should be large enough to hold the whole flock, if it does not 
exceed 200 ; and the bottom of it, as well as of the smaller yard (5), un- 
less well sodded over, should be covered with coarse gravel, to avoid be- 
coming muddy. If the same establishment is used by a number of flock- 
masters, graveling will be always necessary. As soon as the flock are 
confined in yard 3, the lambs are all immediately caught out from among 
them, and set over the fence into yard 4. This is to prevent their being 
trampled down, as it often happens, by the old sheep, or straying oft' if let 
loose. As many sheep are then driven out of yard 3 into the smaller yard 
5 as it will conveniently hold. A boy stands by the gate next to the vat, 
to open and shut it (or the gate is drawn shut with a chain and weight), and 
two men, catching the sheep as directed under the head of tagging, com- 
mence placing them in the water for the preparatory process of "wetting." 
As soon as the water strikes through the wool, which occupies but an in- 
stant, the sheep is lifted out and let loose.* The vat should, of course, be 
in an inclosed field, to prevent their escape. The whole flock should thus 
be passed over, and again driven round through field 1 into yard 3, where 
they should stand, say, an hour, before washing commences. There is 
a large per centage of potasht in the wool oil, which acts upon the dirt, 
independently of the favorable effect which would result from thus 
soaking it for some time with water alone. If washed soon after a good 
shower, previous wetting might be dispensed with ; and it is not absolutely 
necessary, perhaps, in any case. If the water is warm enough to keep the 
sheep in it fur the requisite period, they may be got clean by washing 
without any previous wetting — though the snowy whiteness of fleece which 
tells so on the 2^^*'^ chaser, is not so often nor so perfectly attained in the 
latter way. Little time is saved by omitting "wetting," as it takes propor- 
tionably longer to wash, and it is not so well for the sheep to be kept such 
a length of time in the water at once. 

When the washing commences, two and sometimes four sheep are 
plunged into the vat. When four are put in, two soak while two are 
washed. But this should not be done, unless the water is very warm, and 
the washers are uncommonly quick and expert. On the whole, it is rather 
an objectionable practice, for few animals suffer as much from the effects 
of a chill as sheep. If they have been previously wetted, it is wholly un- 
necessary. When the sheep are in the water, the two washers commence 
kneading the wool with their hands about the breech, belly, &c., (the 
dirtier parts,) aiid they then continue to turn the sheep so that the descend- 
ing current of water can strike into all parts of the fleece. As soon as 
the sheep are clean, which may be known by the water running entirely 
clear, each washer seizes his own by the fore parts, plunges it deep in the 
vat, and taking advantage of the rebound, lifts it out, setting it gently 
down on its breech on the platform. He then, if the sheep is old or 
weak, (and it is well in all cases,) presses out some of the water from the 
wool, and after submitting the sheep to a process presently to be adverted 
to, lets it go. There should be no mud about the vat, the earth not cov- 
ered with sod, being graveled. Sheep should be kept on clean pastures 
from washing to shearing — not where they can come in contact with 



* Where there are conveniences for so doing, this process may be more easily performed by driving the 
eheep throuiih a stream deep enough to compel them to swim. But swimming the compact-fleeced, fine- 
wcoled eheep for any length of time, as is practiced v^ith the Long-Wools in England, will not properly 
cleanse the wool for shearing 

\ Vauquelin, quoted by Youatt, says that it consisu mostly of soapy matter with a basis of potash; 2. 
Carb. of potash ; 3. Acetate of potash ; 4. Lime ; 5. Muriate of potash 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 183 

the ground, burnt logs, &c. — and they should not be driven over dusty 
roads. 

The washers should be strong and careful men, and protected as they 
are from anything but the water running over the sides of the vat, they 
can labor several hours without inconvenience, and without drinking 
whisky until they cease to know whether a sheep is well washed or well 
treated, as was the bad old fashion. Two hundred sheep will employ two 
expert men not over half a day, and I have known this rate much ex- 
ceeded. 

It is a great object, not only as a matter of propi'iety and honesty, but 
even as a matter of profit, to get the wool clean and of a snowy whiteness. 
It will always sell for more than enough extra, in this condition, to offset 
against the increased labor and the diminution in weight. 

Mr. Lawrence wrote me, a few years since, that the average loss in 
American Saxon wool, in scouring, (after being washed on the back,) was 
36 per cent., and in American Merino 42^ per cent. ! 

Cutting the Hoofs. — The hoofs of fine-wooled sheep grow rapidly, 
turn up in front and under at the sides, and must be clipped as often as 
once a year, or they become unsightly, give an awkward, hobbling gait to 
the sheep, and the part of the horn which turns under at the sides holds 
dirt or dung in constant contact with the soles, and even prevents it from 
being readily shaken or washed out of the cleft of the foot in the natural 
movements of the sheep about the pastures, as would take place were the 
hoof in its proper shape. This greatly aggravates the hoof-ail, and the 
difficulty of curing it — and in England it is thought to originate the 
aiaease. 

It is customai-y to clip the hoofs at tagging, or at or soon after the time 
of shearing. Some employ a chisel and mallet to shorten the hoofs, but 
then the sheep must be subsequently turned on its back to pare off the 
projecting and curling-under side crust. If the weather be dry, or the 
sheep have stood for some time on dry straw, (as at shearing,) the hoofs 
are as tough as horn, and are cut with great difficulty — and this is in- 
creased by the s:rit and dirt which adheres to the sole, and immediately 
takes the edge off from the knife. 

The above periods are ill chosen, and the methods slow and bungling. 
It is particularly improper to submit heavily pregnant ewes to all this un- 
necessary handling at the time of tagging. 

When the sheep is washed and lifted out of the vat, and placed on its 
rump on the platform, the gate-keeper 

advances with a pair of toe-nrppers, and ^'g- ^i- 

the washer presents each foot sepa- 
rately, pressing the toes together so 
they can be severed at a single clip. 

The nippers shown in the cut, can be tok-nippkrs. 

made by any blacksmith who can tem- 
per an ax or chisel. They must be made strong, with handles a little 
more than a foot long, the rivet being of half-inch iron and confined with 
a nut, so that they may be taken apart for sharpening. The cutting edge 
should descend upon a strip of copper inserted in the iron, to prevent it 
from being dulled. With this powerful instrument, the largest hoofs are 
severed with a moderate compression of the hand. Two well-sharpened 
knives, which should be kept in a stand or box within reach, are then 
grasped by the washer and assistant, and with two dexterous strokes to 
each foot, the side crust (being free from dirt, and soaked almost as soft as 




194 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



a cucumber,) is reduced to the level of the soles. Two expert men will 
go through these processes in less time than it will take to read this de- 
scription of them ! 

The closer the paring and clipping, the better, if blood is not drawn. 
An occasional sheep may requiie clipj^ing again in the fall. 

Time between Washing and Shearing. — This depends altogether on 
circumstances. From four to six days of bright warm weather is suffi- 
cient. If cold and rainy, or cloudy, more time must elapse. I have known 
the wool to remain in an unfit condition to shear a fortnight after washing. 
The rule is, the water should be thoroughly dried out, and the natural oil 
of the wool should so far exude as to give the wool an unctuous feel and 
a lively, glittering look. If you shear it when dry, like cotton, before the 
oil has exuded, you cheat yourself, and the wool will not keep so well for 
long periods.* If you leave it until it gets too oily, you cheat the manu- 
facturer, or what more often happens, you lose on the price. 

Shearing — Is always done, in this country, on the threshing-floors of 
our barns, sometimes on low platforms, but more commonly on the floor 
itself The following cut represents a common Northern barn properly 
arranged for this purpose. 




SHEARING ARRANGEMENTS. 



On the threshing-floor, three men are seen shearing — two of them using 
a low table or platform, say 18 or 20 inches high. The " bay " t (1, 2) 
nearest the eye is divided by a temporary fence, one part (1) being used 
for the yai'ding of the sheep, and the other (2) for doing up the wool, &c. 
The inclosure 1 should communicate by a door with another and larger 
yard outside of the barn. Both of these should be well littered down with 



* It is also very difficult to thnist the shears through this dry wool in shearing. 

t The room tor storing hay, grain. &c., which is always found on one. and sometimes on each side of the 
threshing-floor in a Northern barn, is provincially termed a " bay ''—and the low division between this and 
the threshing-floor a " breastwork." 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 185 

Straw, and fresh straw thrown on occasionally, to keep the sheep clean 
while shearing. No chaff, or other substances which will stick in the wool, 
should be used for this purpose. When the dew has dried off from the 
sheep, on the morning chosen for shearing, a poition of the flock sufficient 
to last the shearers half a day, is driven into the outside yard, and a con- 
venient number into the bay (1). An assistant catches the sheep, lifts 
them off from the floor as already directed, and delivers them at the door 
through the " breastwork " (3) to each shearer. The shearer before taking 
the sheep, picks off any loose straws sticking to its wool, and if dung ad- 
heres to any of the feet, brushes it off with a little besom formed of twio-s, 
hung up near the door for that purpose. The shearer then takes the sheep 
to his stand, and commences sheaz'ing. 

The floor or tables used for shearing should be planed or worn perfectly 
smooth, so that they will not hold dirt or catch the wool. They all should, 
''"e thoroughly cleaned, and, if necessary, washed, preparatory to shearing. 
It is the catcher's business to keep the floor constantly swept, dung re- 
moved, &c. Having a new stand or place swept for the shearer who has 
just finished his sheep, he catches him another, and then clears up the 
stand previously occupied. He first lifts the fleece, gathers it up so that 
it shall not be torn or drawn asunder, and turning his arms so as to invert 
It, (^. e., bring the roots of the wool downward,) deposits it on the Jblding- 
tahle (4). He then picks uj^ the "fribs" (small loose locks) left on the- 
floor, which are deposited in a basket or on a corner of the table. Lastly,. 
he sweeps the spot clean, to be again occupied by the shearer. An active 
fellow will tend four shearers, and do up the fleeces. But he should not 
be hurried too much, or he cannot give sufficient time to doing up. A 
small boy or two are handy to pick up fribs, sweep, &c. 

If there are any sheep in the pen dirty from purging or other causes,, 
they should first be caught out, to prevent them from dirtying the others; 

It is difficult, if not impossible, to give intelligible practical instructions 
which would guide an entire novice in skillfully shearing a sheep. Prac- 
tice is requisite. The following directions fiom the American Shepherd,* 
are coj'rect, and are as plain, perhaps, as they can be maide : 

" The shearer may place the sheep on that part of the floor assigned to him, resting on its. 
rump, and himsell in a posture with one (his right) knee on a cushion, and the back of the ani- 
mal resting against his left thigh. He grasps the shears about half-way from the point to tlie- 
bow, resting his thumb along the blade, which affords him better command of the points. 
He may then commence cutting the wool at the Ijrisket, and }>roceeding downward, all upon 
the sides of the belly to the extremity of the nbs, the external sfdes of both thighs to tlie 
edges of the flanks ; then back to the brisket; and thence upward, shearing the wool from tlie 
breast, front, and both sides of the neck — but not yet the back of it — and also the poll or 
fore part, and top of the head. Now the 'jacket is opened ' of the sheep, and its position 
and that of the shearer is changed, by being turned flat upon its side, one knee of the shearer 
resting on the cushion, and the other gently pressing the fore quarter of the animal, to pre- 
vent any sti-iiggling. He then resumes cutting upon the flank and rump, and thence on- 
ward to the head. Thus one side is complete. The sheep is then turned on to the other 
side, in doing which great care is requisite to prevent tlie fleece from being torn, and the- 
shearer acts as upon the other, which finishes. He must then take his sheep near to the 
door through which it is to ])ass out, and neatly trim the legs, and leave not a solitary loclr 
anywhere as a harbor for ticks. It is absolutely necessary for him to remove from his stand' 
to trim, otherwise the useless stuff" from the legs becomes interminglisd with the fleece-wool. 
In the use of the shears, let the blades be laid as flat to the,skin,as possible, not lower th& 
points too much, nor cut more than from one to two inches at a clip, frequently not somuch^ 
depending on the part and compactness of the wool."" 

In addition to the above, I would remark that the wool should be cut 
off as close as conveniently practicable, and even. It may be cut too close^ 
so that the sheep can scarcely avoid " sun-scald," but this is very unusual. 

* Pages 179, 180. 

2A 



186 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

If the wool is left ridgy and uneven, it betrays that want of workmanship 
which is so distasteful to every good farmer.* Great care should be taken 
not to cut the wool twice in two, as inexperienced shearers are apt to do. 
It is a great damage to the wool. It is done by cutting too far from the 
point of the shears, and suffering the points to get too elevated. Every 
time the shears are pushed forward, the wool before cut oft' by the points, 
say a quarter or thi-ee-eighths of an inch from the hide, is again severed. 
To keep the fleece entire, so important to its good appearance when done 
up, (and thei'efore to its salableness,) it is very essential that the sheep be 
held easily^or itself, so that it will not struggle violently. To hold it still 
by main strength, no man can do, and shear it well. The posture of the 
shearer should be such that the sheep is actually confined to its position, 
so that it is unable to start up suddenly and tear its fleece, but it should 
not be confined there by severe pressure or force, or it will be constantly 
kicking and struggling. Heavy-handed, careless men, therefore, always 
complain of getting the most troublesome sheep. The neck, for example, 
may be confined to the floor by placing it between the toe and knee of the 
leg on which the shearer kneels, but the lazy or brutal shearer who lets 
his leg rest directly on the neck, soon provokes that struggle which the 
animal is obliged to make to free itself from severe pain, and even perhaps 
to draw its breath ! 

Good shearers will shear, on the average, twenty-five Merinos per day, 
and a new beginner should not attempt to exceed from one-third to one- 
half that number. It is the last process in the world which should be hur- 
ried, as the shearer will soon leave more than enough wool on his sheep to 
pay for his day's wages. 

It has been mentioned that but enough sheep should be yarded at once 
for half a day's shearing. The reason for this is that they shear much 
more easily, and there is less liability of cutting the skin, when they are 
distended with food, than when their bellies become flabby and collapsed 
for the want of it. This precaution, however, is often necessarily omitted 
in showery weather. It is very convenient to have the outside pen which 
communicates with the "bay," covered. On my farm, it is one of the 
regular sheep-houses. If it is showery over night, or showers come up on 
the day of shearing, a couple of hundred sheep may be run in and kept 
dry. And they can be let out to feed occasionally during the day on 
short grass. If let out in long wet grass, their bellies will become wetted. 
Wool ought not to be sheared, and must not be done up, with any water 
in it. 

Shearing Lambs, and Shearing Sheep Semi-Annuallt. — Shearing 
lambs is, in my judgment, every way an abominable and unprofitable prac- 
tice — in this climate, at least. The lamb will give you the same wool at a 
year old, and you strip it of its natural protection from cold when it is 
young and tender, for the paltry gain of the interest on a pound or a pound 
and a half of wool for six months — not more than two or three cents — and 
this all covered by the expense of shearing. 

I am aware that it is customary, in many parts of the South, to shear 
grown sheep twice a year; and there may be a reason for it where they 
receive so little care that a portion are expected to disappear every half- 
year, and the wool to be torn from the backs of the remainder by bushes, 
thorns, &c., if left for a longer period. But when sheep are inclosed, and 

* I holdthfttniRn is not AaZ/a farmer who hag not a dash of the eesthetic mixed up with his utilitarianism. 
Profit should not often be sacrificed to appearances, but where they are strictly compatible, he who disre- 
gards the latter betrays a sordid and uncultivated mind. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



187 




FOLDING-TABLE. 



treated as domestic animals, there may be less barbarity in fall-shearing 
them than in the case of tender lambs, but I cannot conceive of any better 
reason for it than in the former case, on the score of utility. Any gain 
resulting from it cannot pay the additional expense it occasions. 

DoiNG-up Wool. — The fleece has been deposited on the " folding table," 
and he whose business it is to do it up, first proceeds to spread it out, the 
outer ends upward, bringing every part to its natural relative position. — 
The table, with a 

fleece spread out on ^'s- 23. 

it, is represented in 
fig. 23. The table 
should be large — 
say five feet wide 
and eisrht long- — that, 
if necessary, several 
unspread, fleeces may 
be put upon it at the 
same time, and still 
give room for spread- 
ing one. It should 
be about three feet 
high. After the fleece 
is spread, dung, burs, and all other extraneous substances are carefully re- 
moved from it with a pair of shears. It is then pressed together with the 
hands, so that it will cover but little if any more space than it would oc- 
cupy on the skin of the animal, if that was placed unstretched on the table. 
About a quarter of the fleece, lengthwise, or from head to tail, (represented 
by I in the above cut,) is then turned or folded in (inverting it,) toward 
the middle. The opposite side (2) is next folded inward in the same way, 
leaving the fleece in a long strip, say 18 inches wide. The forward end 
(3) is then folded toward the breech, to a point (represented by dotted 
line) corresponding with the point of the shoulder. The breech (4) is next 
folded toward the head. The fleece now presents an oblong square rep- 
resented by 5 and 6. On the breech, in a small, compact bunch — so they 
can be, subsequently, readily sepa- 
rated from the fleece — the clean fribs 
are placed. They do not include 
"trimmings," (the wool from the 
shanks,) which should not be done up 
in the fleeces. The fribs may be laid 
in at some earlier stage of the folding 
— but if thrown on top of the fleece, 
as is very customary, before it is fold- 
ed at all, they shoio through, if the 
latter gets strained apart, as it fre- 
quently happens in the process of roll- 
ing — and being coarser and perhaps 
less white than the fine shoulder wool, 
they injure the appearance of the 
fleece. The fleece is now folded to- 
gether by turning 5 over on to 6, and 
the tyer carefully sliding it around on 
the shoulder shall be toward him, it 
go into the wool-trough. 



Fig 24. 




WOOL-TROUGH. 



the table with his arms, so that 
appears as in fig. 24, ready to 
The wool-trough, which is above represented 



188 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Fig. 25. 




with one of its sides off, to exhibit the interior arrangement, should form 
a part of the table, and should be about 91 inches wide and 9 deep, and 
its length corresponding with the width of the table, would be five feet. 
Near its back end, and about one-third of its width from each side, gimlet 
holes are bored just large enough for the passage of ordinary wool-twine. 
Two balls of twine are placed in a vessel beneath, the ends passed through 
the holes, and the whole length of the trough, and are fastened in front by 
being drawn into two slits formed by sawing a couple of inches into the 
bottom of the trough. The holes and slits should be small enough, so that 
the twine will be kept drawn straight between them. 

The tyer placing his hands and arms (to the elbow) on each side of the 
fleece folded as above, now slides it into the trough. There are two 
methods of having it lie in the trough, represented by the following cuts. 
That on the left is the more ordinary, but not 
the best method. It will bring to the two ends 
of the done-up fleece (the parts most seen in the 
wool-i'oom) the ridge of the back and two lines 
half way down each side of the sheep. The for- 
mer is sometimes a little weather-beaten, and if 
any hay-seeds have fastened in the fleece, they 
show most on the back.* And the two lower 
lines are a little below the choicest wool. — 

Placing it in the trough as in the right-hand figure, rolling would bring 
both ends of the fleece from the wool between four and five inches flom 
the ridge of the back, the choicest part of the fleece. Besides, the edges 
of the breech fold, which is not so fine as the shoulder, which sometimes 
show by the first method of rolling, are always concealed by the last. 

The wool being in the trough, the tyer steps round to the back end of 
it, and commences rolling the fleece from the breech to the shoulder. He 
rolls it as tightly as possible, pressing it down and exerting all the strength 
of his hands — minding, however, not to tear the outside fold — or strain it 
so apart as to exhibit the outer ends of the next inside layer or fold. 
When the rolling is completed, he keeps it tight by resting the lower part 
of his left arm across it, reaches over with the right, and withdrawing one 
of the ends of the twine from the slit, places it in the left hand. Then 
seizing the twine on the other side of the fleece with his right hand, he 
draws the twine once about the fleece with his toliole strength, and ties it 
in a hard or square knot. The fleece will then keep its position, and the 
other twine is tied in the same way. The twines should be drawn with a 
force that would cut through the skin of a tender hand in a few moments.t 
The twines are then cut within an inch of the knots, with a 
pair of shears. The fleece is slid out of the end of the 
trough, when it will be a solid, glittering mass of snowy 
wool, in the shape shown in the cut on the right. If well 
and tightly done up, however, the divisions given on the 
end of the fleece, in the cut, to exhibit the foldings, will 
not be perceptible — and nothing but an unbroken mass of 
the choicest wool of the fleece. 

The twine should be of flax or hemp, and of the diameter of ordinary 
sized hardware twine. Cotton might do, if smooth and hard enough so 
that no particles of it could become incorporated with the wool — in which 
event it does not separate from the wool in any of the subsequent processes. 




and receiving a different color from the dyes, spots the surface of the cloth. 

* Hay-seed, or rather its chaff, will not wash entirely out of wool. 

t It ia customary with some tyers to wear a glove on the right hand — or cots on the two fore-fingera. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 189 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that it is considered perfectly fair by 
the purchaser, to take all the pains above recommended, to " put the best 
side out " in doing up wool, provided every fleece is done up by itself. He 
expects it, and graduates his prices accordingly. He who neglects it, 
thei-efore, cheats himself. But to do up coarser fleeces, or any parts of 
them, in finer ones — put in " trimmings " — leave in dung — or use unne- 
cessary twine — are all base frauds. Sometimes the careless sheep-owner 
will have his wool filled with burs, which he cannot or will not remove. 
In that case he is bound to unequivocally apprise the buyer of the fact, 
and allow him to open fleeces until satisfied of the precise extent of the 
evil. 

Storing Wool. — Wool should be stored in a clean, tight, dry room. It 
is better that it should be an dipper room, for reasons presently to be given, 
and it should be plastered, to exclude dust, vermin, insects, &c. Rats and 
mice love to build their nests in it, to which they will carry grain chaff" and 
other substances, injuring much wool — and it is singular that if accessible 
to the common bumble-bee, numbers of their nests will be found in it. A 
north and pretty strong light is preferable for a wool-room. 

When the wool-tyer removes each fleece from the trough, he places it 
in a long, high basket, capable of holding a dozen fleeces, and it is imme- 
diately carried to the wool-room — or he piles it on the clean floor in the 
inclosure in which his table stands, to be subsequently carried away. In 
either case, the fleeces are not thrown down promiscuously, which injures 
their shape, but are laid regularly one above another, on their sides. In 
the wool-room it is laid in the same way in smooth, straight north and 
south rows (supposing the light to be let in from the north) with alleys 
between, in which a man can pass to inspect the wool. The rows ought 
not, perhaps, to be more than two deep, so that the end of ewfry fleece can 
be examined, but as it cannot be piled up more than about four fleeces 
high in this way, without liability of falling, it is customary to make the 
rows three or four fleeces deep — laying the lower ones a little wide, so 
that the pile may slightly recede as it goes up. In this way they may be 
piled six fleeces high. Where the character of the flock is known, or that 
of the seller relied on, it makes little difference. It is considered fairest 
to pile the fleeces without any discrimination as to quality, in the wool- 
room. 

Sacking Wool. — When the wool is sold, or when it must be sent away 
to find a market, it is put up in bales nine feet long, formed of 40-inch 
" burlaps." The mouth of the sack is sowed, with twine, round a strong 
hoop (riveted together with iron, and kept for the purpose,) and the body 
of it is let down through a circular aperture in the floor of the wool-room.* 
The hoop rests on the edge of the aperture, and the sack swings clear of 
the floor beneath, A man enters the sack, and another passes the fleeces 
down to him. After covering the bottom with a layer, he places a fleece 
in the center and forces down others around it, and so on to the top, which 
is then sowed up. Each fleece should be placed regularly with the hands, 
and then stamped down as compactly as possible, so that the bale when 
completed shall be hard and well filled in every part. The bulk of a given 
weight of wool will be greatly affected by the care with which this pro- 
cess is performed. 

Those who do not expect buyers to come and look at their wool, sack 
it immediately after shearing. A temporary scaffolding is erected near 

* It ia to secure this convenience that the wool-room is best placed on the second floor. 



190 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the wool as deposited by the tyer, and one man tosses up fleeces to a sec- 
ond, who catches them and passes them down to the man in the sack. A 
light frame, to suspend the sack, and ]) art way up it a standing-place for 
the catcher, would be a convenient appendage to the establishment of a 
wool-grower who does not store his wool in a wool-room. "With a set of 
stairs up to his midway standing-place, an active fellow would keep the 
treader supplied, without any a^sistance. 

In the absence of any agieement, the price of wool, delivered at ihe 
residence of the purchaser, does not include the cost of sacks and sacking. 
It is customary, however, for growers of small parcels, and those who 
keep no conveniences for sacking, to carry their wool tied up in sheets, 
&c., and deliver it to the purchaser at the nearest village or other point, 
where he has made arrangements for sacking. 



Selection. — The necessity of annually weeding the flock, by excluding 
all its members falling below a certain standard of quality, and what the 
points are to which reference should be had in establishing that standard, 
have already been suflaciently adverted to in discussing the principles of 
breeding. The time of shearing is by far the most favorable one for the 
flockmaster to make his selection. He should be present on the shearing- 
floor, and inspect the fleece of every sheep as it is gradually taken off". If 
there is a fault about it, he will then discover it better than at any other 
time, A glance, too, reveals to him every fault of form, previously con- 
cealed wholly or in part, by the wool, as soon as the newly shorn sheep 
is permitted to stand on its feet. He takes down the number and age of 
the sheep on his tablet, and if not sufficiently defective in form or quality 
of fleece to call for its condemnation, in a pair of scales suspended near the 
wool-tyer's table, he determines the weight of the fleece. If this, too, is 
satisfactory, he marks " retained " opposite the sheep's number on his tab- 
let. If more or less defective in any point, he weighs this against the 
other points — taking also into consideration the age of the sheep, its char- 
acter as a breeder, its nursing properties, quietness of disposition, &c. — 
and then, in view of all these points, the question of retention or exclusion 
is settled. A remarkably choice ewe is frequently kept until she dies of 
old age. A poorish nurse or breeder would be excluded for the lightest 
fault, and so on. I have been in the habit, for a number of years, of using 
a book kept for this purpose, each page being ruled and headed thus : 



27, '42 
30, '44 



Qual. of Fleece. 



Wt. of Fleece. 



The figures in the first column signify No. 27 of the year 1842, and No. 
30 of the year 1844. The letters in the succeeding columns stand for the 
words " prime," " fair," " ordinary," and " bad " — marking the gradations 
of quality. The letters in the last column signify " retained," or " ex- 
cluded." Such a record will lead to far greater accuracy than by any 
other method, and it is extremely valuable for purposes hereafter to be 
stated. 

If the sheep ai'S not numbered, the flock-master should note each appear- 
ance, as above directed, havfe the sheep held by the neck by an assistant^ 
or discharged by the shearer into a small pen at the door for that purpose, 
until the fleece is weighed, and then if he decides to exclude it, he gives 
it a small mark on the shoulder, consisting of Venetian Red and hog's lard, 
(conveniently applied with a brush or cob.) 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 191 

Marking Sheep. — The sheep should be marked soon after shear! iig^, or 
mistakes may occur. Every owner of sheep should be provided with a 
marking instrument, which will stamp his initials, or some other distinctive 
mark, such as a small circle, oval, triangle, square, &c., at a single stroke, 
and with uniformity , on the sheep. It has been customary here, to have 
the mark cut out of a plate of thin iron, with an iron handle terminated by 
wood. But one made by cutting a type or raised letter (or character) on 
the end of a stick of light wood, such as pine or basswood, is found to be 
better. If the pigment used be thin, and the marker be thrust into it a 
little too deeply, as often happens, the surplus will not run off from the 
wood, as from a thin sheet of iron, to daub the sides of the sheep, and 
spoil the appearance of the mark ; and if the pigment be applied liot, the 
former will not, like the latter, get heated, and increase the danger of 
burning the hide. Various pigments are used. Many boil tar until it 
will assume a glazed, hard consistency, when cold, and give it a brilliant 
black color by stirring in a little lamp-black when boiling. It is applied 
when just cold enough not to burn the sheep's hide, and it forms a bright, 
conspicuous mark the year round. I have always used this, though the 
manufacturer would prefer the substitution of oil and turpentine for tai*, 
as the latter is cleansed out of the wool with some difficulty. I boil it in 
a high-sided iron vessel (to prevent it from taking fire) on a small furnace 
or chafing-dish near where it is to be used. When cool enough, forty or 
fifty sheep can be marked before it gets too stiff. It is then warmed from 
time to time, as necessary, on the chafing-dish. The rump is a better place 
to mark than the side. The mark is about as conspicuous on the former, 
under any circumstances, and it is more so when the sheep are huddled in 
a pen, or when they are running away from you. And should any wool 
be injured by the mark, that on the rump is less valuable than that on the 
side. It is customary to distinguish ewes from wethers by marking them 
on different sides of the rump. 

Many mark each sheep as it is dischai'ged from the barn by the shearer. 
It consumes much less time to do it at one job, after the shearing is com- 
pleted ; and it is necessary to take the latter course, if a hot pigment is 
used. 

Cold Storms after Shearing. — These sometimes destroy sheep, in 
this latitude, soon after shearing — particularly the delicate Saxons. I have 
known forty or fifty perish out of a single flock, from one night's expo- 
sure. The remedy, or rather the preventive, is to house them, or in de- 
fault of the necessary fixtures to effect this, to drive them into dense for- 
ests. I presume, however, this would be a calamity of rare occurrence in 
the " sunny South," 

Sun-Scald — Might be more common. When sheep are sheared close 
in very hot weather — have no shade in their pastures — and particularly 
where they are driven immediately considerable distances, or rapidly, over 
burning and dusty roads, their backs are so scorched by the sun that the 
wool comes off. It is not common, however, here. You may see one 
such in a flock of a hundred. Let alone, the matter is not a serious one, 
but the application of refuse lard to the back will accelerate the cure, and 
the starting of the wool. 

Ticks. — These, when very numerous, greatly annoy and enfeeble sheep 
in the winter, and should be kept entirely out of the flock. After shear- 
ing, the heat and cold, the rubbing and biting of the sheep soon drive off 



192 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 




DIPPING-BOX. 



the tick, and it takes refuge in the long wool of the lamb. Wait a fort- 
night after shearing, to allow all to make this transfer of residence. Then 
boil refuse tobacco leaves until the decoction is strong enough to kill ticks 
beyond a peradventure. This may be readily tested by experiment. 
Five or six pounds of cheap plug tobacco, or an equivalent in stems, &c., 
may be made to answer for 100 lambs. The decoction is poured into a 
deep, narrow box, kept for 
this purpose, and which has 
an inclined shelf one one side, 
covered with a wooden grate, 
as shown in the cut. One 
man holds the lamb by the 
liind legs, another clasps the 
fore-legs in one hand, and 
shuts the other about the 
nostrils to prevent the liquid 
entering them, and then the 
lamb is entiiely immersed. 
It is immediately lifted out, 
laid on one side on the grate, 
and the water squeezed out 
of its wool. It is then turned 
over and squeezed on the 
other side. The grate con- 
ducts the fluid back into the 
box. If the lambs are regu- 
larly dipped every year, ticks will never trouble a flock. 

The effect of tobacco water in scab, will be hereafter adverted to. 

Maggots. — Rams with horns growing closely to their heads, are very 
liable to have maggots generated under them, particularly if the skin on 
the surrounding parts gets broken in fighting, and these, if not removed, 
soon destroy the sheep. Both remedy and preventive is boiled tar — or the 
marking substance heretofore described. Put it under the horns, at the 
time of marking, and no trouble will ever arise from this cause. Some- 
times when a sheep scours in wai'm weather, and clotted dung adheres 
about the anus, maggots are generated under it, and the sheep perishes 
miserably. Preventive : remove the dung. Remedy : remove the dung 
and maggots, the latter by touching them with a little turpentine, and 
then apply sulphur and grease to the excoriated surface. 

Maggot flies, says Blacklock, sometimes deposit their eggs on the hocJis 
of the long, open-wooled English sheep, and the maggots during the few 
days before they assume the pupa state, so tease and irritate the animal, 
that fever and death are the consequence. Tar and turpentine, or butter 
and sulphur, smeared over the parts are given as the preventives. The 
Merino and Saxon are exempt from these attacks. 

Shortening the Horns. — A convolution of the horn of a ram sometimes 
so presses in upon the side of the head or neck, that it is necessary to shave 
or rasp it away on the under side, to prevent ultimately fatal effects. The 
point of the horn of the ram and ewe both not unfrequently turn in so 
that they will grow into the flesh and sometimes into the eye, unless 
shortened. The toe-nippers will often suffice on the thin extremity of a 
horn, but if not, a fine saw must be used. The marking time is the best 
one to attend to this. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 1&3 

Division op Flocks. — It is customary at, or soon after shearing, to make 
those divisions in large flocks, which utility demands. It is better to have 
not to exceed two hundred sheep run together in the pastures, though the 
number might perhaps be safely increased to three hundred, if the range 
is extensive. Wethers and dry ewes to be turned off, should be kept seji- 
arate from the nursing-ewes, and if the flock is sufticiently numerous to 
require a third division, it is customary to put the yearling and two-year- 
old ewes and wethers and the old, feeble sheep together. It is better in 
all cases to separate the rams from all the other sheep, at the time of 
shearing, and to inclose them in a particularly well-fenced field. If put 
even with wethers, they are more quarrelsome, and when cool nights ar- 
rive, will worry themselves and waste their flesh in constant efforts to ride 
the wethers. The Merino ram is a quiet animal compaied with ilie com- 
mon-vvooled one, but poor fences, or fences half the time down, will tempt 
him to jump, and if once taught this trick, he becomes very troublesome 
as the rutting period approaches, unless hopjiling, yoking, clogging, or 
"poking " is resorted to — either of which causes the animal to waste his 
flesh and strength, and are the causes of frequent accidents. 

Hoppling, Clogging, &c. — Hoppling is done by sowing the ends of a 
leathern strap (broad at the extremities so that it will not cut into the 
flesh) to a fore and hind leg, just above the pastern joints — leaving the legs 
at about the natural distance apart. Clogging is fastening a billet of woikI 
to the fore leg by a leather strap. Yoking is fastening two rsmis two or 
three feet apart, by bows around their necks, inserted in a liglit piece of 
timber, say two by three inches in size. Poking is done \>y inserting a 
bow in a short bit of light timber, into which bit (worn on the under side 
of the neck) a rod is inserted which pi'ojects a conple of feet in i'ront of 
the sheep. These, and similar devices, to prevent rams scaling fences, may 
be employed as a last resort, by those improvident farmers who j^efer by 
such troublesome, injurious, and at best, insecux-e means, to gunrd against 
that viciousness which they might, so much more easily, liave jn evented 
from being acquired. 

Dangerous Rams. — From being teased and annoyed by boys, or petted 
and pla3'ed with when young — and sometimes without any otljc-r stimulant 
than a naturally vicious temper — rams occasionally become very trouble- 
some by their propensity to attack men or cattle. I know of one for 
which his owner has refused $250, which will permit no man t(.> enter the 
field with him without making an immediate onset on him. I have known 
several tliat woidd knock down the ox or horse which presumed to dis- 
pute the possession of a lock of hay with them. A ram which is known 
to have acquired this propensity should at once be /looded, and, if not 
valuable, at the proper season converted into a wether by " cording." But 
the courage thus manifested, is usually the conromitfint of great strength 
and vigor of constitution — and of a powerfully developed frame. If good 
in other particulars, it is a pity to lose the services of such an animal. I 
have in several such instances hooded them, by covering their faces with 
leather in such a manner that they could only see a little backward and 
downward. They must then, however, be kept apart from the flock of 
rams, (n- they will soon be killed or injured by blows, which they cannot 
see to escape. 

It sometimes happens that a usually quiet tempered ram will suddenly 
exhibit some pugnacity when you are salting or foeding the flock. If you 
turn to run, you are immediately knocked down, niid the ram learns, at 

2B 



194 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



that single lesson, the secret of his mastery, and the propensity to exercise 
it. The ram giving his blow from the summit of the parietal and the pos- 
terior portion of the frontal bones on the top of the head, (and not from the 
forehead,) couches his head so low when he makes his onset, that he does 
not see forward well enough to swerve suddenly from his right line, and a 
few quick motions to the right and left enable you to escape him. Run in 
upon him, as he dashes by you, with pitchfork, club, or boot-heel — punish- 
ing him severely by blows, (about the head if the club is used,) and giving 
him no time to rally until he is thoroughly cowed.* 

Fences. — Poor fences will teach ewes and wethers to jump, as well as 
rams, and fur a jumping flock there is no remedy but immoderately high 
fences, or exLirpation. One jumper will soon teach the trick to a whole 
flock, and if one by chance is bought in, it should be immediately hoppled 
or killed. The last is by far the surest and safest remedy. 

Salt. — Salt, in my judgment, is indispensable to the health of sheep, 
particularly in the summer — and I know not a flock-master among the hun- 
dreds, nay, thousands with whom I am acquainted, who differs with me in 
this opinion. It is common to give it once a week while the sheep are at 
grass. 

It is still better to give them free access to salt at all times, by keeping 
it in a covered box, open on one side, like the following: 

A large hollow log, 
with holes cut along the Fig. 28. 

side, for the insertion 
of the beads of the sheep 
will make a respectable 
substitute. A sheep hav- 
ing free access to salt at 
all times, will never eat 
too much, and it will take 
its supply when and in 
what quantities Nature 
demands, instead of eat- 
ing voraciously at stated 

periods, as intermediate abstinence will stimulate it do. When fed but 
once a week, it is better to have a stated day, so that it will not be forgot- 
ten, and it is well to lay the salt on flat stones, though if laid in little 
liandsfull on the grass, very little will be lost. 

Tar. — This is supposed by many to form a very healthful condiment for 
sheep. The nose of the sheep is smeared with it, and it is licked and 
swallowed as the natural beat of the fle.sh, or that of the weather, causes it 
to trickle down over the nostrils and lips. Others, suffering the flock to 
get unusually salt hungry, place tar upon flat stones, or in troughs, and 
then scatter salt on it, so that both shall be consumed together. Applied 
to the nose, in the nature of a cataplasm, 1 have no doubt that it is advan- 
tageous in catarrhs — and put on the same place, at the proper periods, it 
may perhaps, by its odor, repel the visitations of the fly ( (Estris oris), the 
eggs of which produce the " grub in the head." As a medicine it may be 
valuable, and even as a detergent in the case specified, but as a condiment 




SALTING-BOX. 



* This may bi^ pronounced harsh " measure for measure," and some may think it would tend to increase 
the viciousnoss oC the animal. Repeated instances have proved the contrary to me. And if their mastery 
is once acknowledged, it is never forgotten by them. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 195 

simply, for a perfectly healthy animal, I confess I have no confidence in its 
utility. 

Water. — Water is not indispensable in the summer pastures, the dews 
and the succulence of the feed answering as a substitute. But my impres- 
sion is decided that free access to water is advantageous to sheep, particu- 
larly to those having lambs ; and I should consider it a matter of import- 
ance on a sheep farm, to arrange the pastures, if practicable, so as to 
bring water into each of them. 

Shade. — No one who has observed with what eagerness sheep seek 
shade in hot weather, and how they pant and apparently suffer when a hot 
sun is pouring down on their nearly naked bodies, will doubt that, both as 
a matter of humanity and utility, they should be provided, during the hot 
summer months, with a better shelter than that afforded by a common rail 
fence. Forest-trees are the most natural and best shades, and it is as con- 
trary to utility as it is to good taste to strip them entirely from the sheep- 
walks. A strip of stone-wall or close board fence on the south and west 
sides of the pasture, will form a passable substitute for trees. But in the 
absence of all these, and of buildings of any kind, a shade can be cheaply 
constructed of poles and brush, in the same manner as the sheds of the 
same materials for winter shelter, which will be described in my next Lettei'. 

Weaning Lambs. — Lambs should be weaned at four months old. It is 
better for them, and much better for their dams. The lambs when taken 
away should be put for several days in a field distant from the ewes, that 
they may not hear each other's bleatings. The lambs when in hearing of 
their dams, continue restless much longer, and they make constant and 
frequently successful efforts to crawl through the fences which separate 
them. One or two tame old ewes are turned into the field with them to 
teach them to come at the call, find salt when thrown to them, and eat 
grain, &c., out of troughs when winter approaches. 

Tlie lambs when weaned should be put on the freshest and tenderest 
feeil. I have usually reserved for mine the gi'ass and clover sown, the pre- 
ceding spring, on the grain fields which were seeded down. 

The dams, on the contrary, should be put for a fortnight on short, dry 
feed, to stop the flow of milk. They should be looked to, once or twice, 
and should the bags of any be found much distended, the milk should be 
drawn and the bag washed for a little time in cold water. But on short 
feed, they rarely give much trouble in this particular. When properly 
dried off, they should be put on good feed to recruit, and get in condition 
for winter. 

Fall Feeding. — In the North, the grass often gets very short by the 
10; 'I or loth of November, and it has lost much of its nutritiousness from 
rejjeired freezing and thawing. At this time, though no snow has yet 
f dU'u, it is best to give the sheep a light daily foddering of bright hay — 
or a few oats in the bundle. Given thus for the ten or twelve days which 
precede the covering of the ground by snow, fodder pays for itself as well 
as at any other time during the year. I have usually fed oats in the bun- 
dle, or threshed oats, (about a gill to the head,) in the feeding-troughs, 
carried to the fields for that purpose. 

The Crook. — This implement has been several times alluded to as a 
convenient one for catching sheep. It is made in the form exhibited iu 



19G 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the cut, of -l-inch round iron, drawn smaller toward the point — and the 
point made safe by a knob. The other end is furnished 
with a socket, which receives a handle six or eight feet ^'s- 29- 

long. The manner of using it is thus described in Mr. Ste- 
phens's admirable " Book of the Farm " : 

" The hind-leg is hooked in at a, from behind the sheep, and it fills up 
the narrow part beyond a, wliile passing along it until it reaches the loop, 
when the animal is caught by the hock, and when secured, its foot ea- 
sily slips through the loop. Some caution is required in using the crook, 
for should the sheep give a sudden start forward to get away, the mo- 
ment it feels the crook the leg will be di'awn forcibly through the narrow 
part, and strike the bone with such violence against the bend of the loop 
as to cause the animal considerable pain, and even occasion lameness for 
some days. On first embracing the leg, the crook should be drawn 
quickly toward you, so as to bring the bend of the loop against the leg as 
high up as the hock, before the sheep has time even to break oft', and be- 
ing secure, its struggles will cease the moment your hand seizes the leg." 

No flock-master should be without this implement, as it 
saves a vast deal of yarding, running, &c., and leads to 
a prompt examination of every improper or suspicious ap- 
pearance, and a timely application of remedy or preven- 
tive — which would often be deferred if the whole flock had 
to be driven to a distant yard, to enable the shepherd to 
catch a particular sheep. 

Dexterity in the use of the crook is speedily acquired by any one ; and 
if a flock are properly tame, any one of its number can be readily caught 
by it, at salting-time — or, generally, at other times, by a person with whom 
the flock are familiar. But it is at the lambing-time, when sheep and lambs 
require to be so repeatedly caught, that the crook is more particularly ser- 
viceable. For this purpose, at this time alone, it will pay for itself ten 
times over in a single season, in saving time, to say nothing of the advan- 
tage of the sheep. 




SHEPHERD 3 
CROOK. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 197 



LETTER XIII. 

WINTER MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 

Use of Rams — proper age, number, &c.— «elecring ewes for — different methods of coupling — way to treat 
rams... Division of Flocks for Winter. ..The Hospital.. .Yards — when necessary... Feeding- Racks — vari- 
ous plans of— the Box Rack — the Hole Rack — the Sparred Rack — the Hopper Rack — their respective ad- 
vantages — improvements suggested. . .lYoughs.. .Grain-Boxes.. .Barns and Sheds — necessity of shelter at 
the North — the common Northern Sheep-Barn... Stells — the Outside Stell — Ancient Stells — Inside Circular 
Stell— Circular Stell fitted up with racks.. .Tree-Coverts... Cheap Sheds — fitted between stacks, barracks, 
&c.. .Value of BaiTacks for the Preservation of Fodder... The Main Sheep-Barn of the Farmer Plantation, 
with Sheoring-Floor, &c. — wrangements for breeding-ewes... Feeding sheep in yards with other stock — 
improper — reasons.. .Hay-Holders.. .Winter Drj' Feed for Sheep — Variations in Feed — German views on 
this subject — proper kinds of fodder — Boussingaults Table of the Nutritive Equivalents of difi'erent kinds 
of Fodders ... EtFect of Food in the Production of Wool — De Reaumur's Table showing the Effects of F'ood 
in this particular.. .Effect of Food in producing Fat and Muscle. ..Fattening Wethers in the North... Feed- 
ing Grain to Store-Sheep in Winter — when practiced at the North — economy of so doing — kinds of grain 
preferred — necessity of regularity in quantity — difiiculty of raising the condition of poor sheep in the win- 
ter.. .Feeding Roots, Browse, &c — Roots a Substitute for Grain — to what sheep they may be fed — Hem- 
lock Browse — when and in what manner useful — substitutes for... Winter Feed of Breeding-Ewes.. -Ne- 
cessity of regularity in the times of feeding sheep ... Salt ... Water. 

Dear Sir : As the turning out of the rams usually takes place, here, on 
the first day of winter, I will describe the pi'oper accompanying arrange- 
ments, as the first step in winter management. 

Use of Rams. — The period of gestation in the ewe averages five months. 
Mei'ino rams are fiequently used from the first to the tenth year, and even 
longer. The lambs of very old rams are not supposed to be as vigorous 
as those of youngish or middle-aged ones, but where rams have not been 
overtasked, and have been properly fed, I confess I have been able to dis- 
cover very little difference in their progeny on account of age. A ram 
lamb should not be used, as it retards his growth, injures his form, and, I 
think, permanently impairs his vigor and courage. A yearling may run 
with 30 ewes, a two-year-old with from 40 to 50, and a three-year-old 
with from 50 to 60. Some very powerful, mature rams will serve 70 or 
80 ewes; but 50 is enough, where they run with the ewes. I am satisfied 
that an impoverished and overtasked animal does not transmit his indi- 
vidual properties so decidedly to his offspring as one in full vigor. 

Several rams I'unning in the same flock excite each other to an unnat- 
ural and unnecessary activity, besides injuring each other by constant 
blows. It is, in every point of view, bad husbandry, where it can be 
■Bvoidedj.and, as usually managed, is destructive to everything like careful 
and judicious breeding. The nice adaptation which the male should pos- 
sess to the female, already discussed under the head of Principles of 
Breeding — counterbalancing her defects with his own marked excellence 
in the same points, and, in turn, having his defects counterbalanced by 
her excellencies — how shall this be accomplished, where half a dozen or 
more rams are running promiscuously with two or three hundred ewes ? 

Before the rams are let out, the flock-master should have all the breed- 
ing-ewes brought together in one yard. He has carefully inspected his 
stock rams and noted every defect and peculiarity of their fleeces and 
forms. The breeding register is before him to settle every pedigree, pro- 
vided his stock rams are nearly enough connected with some portions of 
the flock to render it necessary to guard against in-and-in breeding. The 
shepherd catches a ewe and places her before him. The pedigree being 



198 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

determined, he first notes her form, and then opening the wool on the 
shoulder, thigh and belly, notes the length, thickness, quality, and style of 
the staple. If he kept the minutes at shearing recommended by me (un- 
der the head of " Selection ") it will save much time and lead to far more 
accurate classification. When every point in the ewe is determined, he 
decides which ram, on the whole, is best calculated to pei-petuate her ex- 
cellencies both of fleece and carcass, and best counterbalance her defects 
in their mutual offspring. With a pigment composed of Venitian red and 
hog's lard, he then, as has been already mentioned under the head of 
Registering, gives the ewe a mark which will last until the next shearing, 
which will show by what ram she was tupped. Those selected for each 
ram are placed in dijferent inclosures, and the chosen ram placed with 
them. In four weeks' time, the rams are withdrawn, and the flocks 
doubled or otherwise rearranged for winter, as may be necessary. This 
looks like taking considerable trouble, but having practiced it for years 
on my farm, and having always made these selections myself, I know 
that in reality the trouble is very slight — nothing, when the beneficial re- 
sults are taken into consideration. With a couple assistants, to catch, a 
day would suffice for effecting the proper classification and division of sev- 
eral hundred ewes. 

Where choice rams are scarce, so that it is an object to make the ser- 
vices of one go a great way — or where it is impossible to have separate 
inclosures, (as on farms where there there are a 

great number of breeding-ewes, or where the shep- ^'S- ^^- 

herd system is adopted to the exclusion offences,) 
the following method may be resorted to. Build a 
hut containing as many apartments as you wish to 
use rams, with an alley between them. That part 
of fig. 30 which is surrounded by black lines repre- 
sents the hut divided into four apartments, each fur- 
nished with a feeding-box and ti'ough in one comer. 
Gates or bars open from each apartment into the 
alley, and at each end of the alley. The dotted 
lines inclose a yard just sufficient to hold the flock 
of breeding-ewes. 

A couple of strong rams (of any quality) for about 
every hundred ewes, are then aproned, their brisk- 
ets lubbed with Venitian red and hog's lard, and they are let loose among 
the ewes. Aproning is performed by sewing a belt of coarse sacking 
broad enough to extend from the fore to the hind legs, loosely but strongly 
round the body. To prevent its slipping forward or back, straps are car- 
ried round the breast and back of the breech. It is indispensable that it 
be made jperfectly secure, or all the labor of this method of coupling will 
be far worse than thrown away. The pigment on the brisket should be 
renewed every two or three days — and it will be necessary, usually, to 
change the *' teasers," as these aproned rams are called, about once a 
week, as they do not long retain their courage under such unnatural cir- 
cumstances. Twice a day the ewes are brought into the yard in front of 
the hut. Those marked on their rumps by the teasers are taken into the 
alley. Each is admitted to the ram for which she is marked once, and 
then goes out at the 0f2)0site end of the alley from ichich she entered, into a 
separate field fi-om that containing the flock from which she was taken. 
A powerful and vigorous ram from three to seven years old, and propeily 
fed, can thus be made to serve from 150 to even 200 ewes, with no greater 
injury than from running loose with 50 or 60. 






SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 199 

This, too, looks like a great amount of labor to attain the result sought, 
but having had it formerly practiced for two years on my farm, I know 
that when conducted with system, and by a prompt and handy shepherd, 
it consumes no great amount of time. 

Rams will do better, accomplish more, and last two or three years long- 
er, if daily fed with grain, when on service, and it is well to continue it, 
gradually decreasing the quantity, for a few days after they are withdrawn 
from the flock of ewes. A ram should receive the equivalent of from half 
a pint to a pint of oats, daily, when worked hard. They are much more 
conveniently fed when kept in huts. If suffered to run at large, they 
should be so thoroughly tamed that they will eat from a measure held by 
the shepherd. Careful breeders thus train their stock-rams from the time 
they are lambs. It is very convenient, also, to have them halter-broke, so 
that they can be led about without dragging or lifting them. An iron ring 
attached to one of the horns, near the point, to which a cord can be at- 
tached for leading, confining, &c., is very useful and handy. If rams are 
wild, it is a matter of considerable difficulty to feed them separately, and 
it can only be effected by yarding the flock and catching them out. Some 
breeders, in addition to extra feeding, take the rams out of the flocks 
nights, shutting them up in a barn or stable by themselves. There is no 
objection to this practice, and it is a great saving of their strength. 

Rams should not be suffered to run with the ewes over a month, at 
least in the North. It is much better that a ewe go dry than that she 
have a lamb later than the first of June. And after the rutting season is 
over, the rams grow cross, frequently striking the pregnant ewes danger- 
ous blows with their heavy horns, at the racks and troughs. 

Division of Flocks. — If flocks are shut up in small inclosures during 
winter, according to the Northern custom, it is necessary to divide them 
into flocks of about 100 each, to consist of sheep of about the same size 
and strength. Otherwise the stronger rob the weaker, and the latter rap- 
idly decline. This would not be so important where the sheep roam at 
large, but even in that case some division and classification are necessary, 
— 01', at all events best. It is best, indeed, as already stated, even in sum- 
mer. The poorer and feebler can by this means receive better pasture, or 
a little more grain and better shelter in winter. 

By those who grow wool to any extent, breeding ewes, lambs, and weth- 
ers are invariably kept in separate flocks in winter ; and it is best to keep 
yearling sheep by themselves with a few of the smallest two-year-olds, and 
any old crones which are kept for their excellence as breeders, but which 
cannot maintain themselves in the flock of breeding-ewes. 

The Hospital. — Old and feeble, or wounded sheep, late-born lambs, etc., 
should be placed by themselves, if the number does not even exceed a score. 
They require better feed, warmer shelter, and more attention. But after 
all, unless the sheep are of a peculiarly valuable variety, it is better to sell 
them off' in the fall at any price, — or to give them to some poor neighbor 
who has time to nurse them, and who may thus commence a flock. 

Yards. — Experience has amply demonstrated, that in the climate of the 
Northern and Eastern States — where no grass grows from four to four and 
a half months in the winter — and where, therefore, all that can be obtain- 
ed from the ground is the repeatedly frozen, innutritions herbage left in 
the fall — it is better to keep sheep confined in yards, excepting where the 
ground is covered with snow. If suffered to roam over the fields at other 



200 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



times, they get enough grass to take away their appetite for dry hay, but 
not enough to sustain them ; they fall away, and towards spring they be- 
come weak, and a large proportion of them frequently perish. I speak, 
of course, of flocks of some size, and on properly stocked farms. A few 
sheep, with a boundless range, would do better. 

Some of our flock-masters let out their sheep occasionally for a single 
day, during a thaw ; others keep them entirely from the ground until let 
out to grass in the spring. I prefer the former course, where the sheep 
ordinarily get nothing but dry fodder. It affords a healthy laxative, and 
a single day's grazing will not take off" their appetite from more than one 
succeeding dry feed. It is necessary, here, to keep the sheep in the yards 
until the feed has got a good start in the spring, or they, particularly 
breeding-ewes, will get off" from their feed, and get weak at the most crit- 
ical time for them in the year. 

Yards should be firm-bottomed, dry, — and they should, (in ^Aw climate,) 
be kept well littered with straw. 

INIy impression is that the yarding system will never be practiced to any 
extent in the South. It certainly should not be, where sheep can get their 
living from the fields. How far, and under what circumstances, they will 
do this, has already been sufficiently discussed in my preceding Letters. 

Feeding-Racks. — When the ground is frozen, and especially when 
covered with snow, the sheep eats hay better on the ground than anywhere 
else. When the land is soft, muddy, or foul with manure, they will scarce- 
ly touch hay placed on it. It should then be fed in racks. 

These are of various forms. 
Figure 31 gives the common box ^^s- ^^• 

rack, in the most general use in 
the North. It is ten feet long, 
two and a half wide, the lower 
boards a loot wide, the upper 
ones about ten inches, the two 
about nine inches apart, and the 
corner posts three by three, or 

three and a half by two and a half inches. The boards are spiked on these 
posts by large flat headed nails wrought for the purpose, and the lower 
edges of the upper boards and the upper edges of the lower ones are 
rounded so they shall not wear the wool off from the sheep's necks. The 
lower boards and the opening for the heads, should be two or three inches 
narrower for lambs. If made of light wood, as they should be, a man 
standing in the inside and middle of one of thcSle racks, can easily carry it 
about — an important desideratum. Unless overfed, sheep waste very lit- 
tle hay in them. 

A capital shed or barn rack is represented in the following cut. The 





HOLE RACK. 



holes are eight inches wide, nine inches high, and eighteen inches from 
center to center. Sheep do not crowd and take advantage of each other 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



201 



so much with these as with box racks. But they would be too heavy and 
unnecessarily expensive for a common out-door rack. Fig. 32 repi'esents 
a hox, the front formed of a board nailed on horizontally, but they are 
usually formed by naihng the boards perpendicularly, the bottoms on the 
sill of a barn, and the tops to horizontal pieces of timber. 

In the South, as in England, racks will not be so necessary for that 
constant use to which they are put in colder countries, as for dejiositories 
of dry food, for the occasional visitation of the sheep. In soft warm 
weather, when the ground is unfrozen, and any kind of green herbage is 
to be obtained, sheep will scarcely touch dry fodder — though tlie little they 
will then cat will be highly serviceable to them. But in a sudden freeze, or 
on the occurrence of cold storms, they will resort to the racks, and fill 
themselves with dry food. By an instinct beautifully illustrative of the 
providence of the Creator, sheep anticipate the coming storm, and eat an 
extra quantity of food to sustain the animal heat, during the succeeding 
depression of temperature. They should always have racks of dry fod- 
der to resort to in such emergencies. 

These occasionally used racks should have covers or roofs to protect 
their contents from rain, as otherwise the feed would be often spoiled be- 
fore but a small portion of it was consumed. Hay or straw saturated witli 
water, or soaked and dried, is only eaten by the sheep as a matter of ab- 
solute necessity. The common box rack (fig. 31) would answer the pur- 
pose vei-y well by placing on the top a triangular cover or roof formed of 
a couple of boards, (one hung at the upper edge with iron or leather hin- 
ges so that it could be lifted up like a lid ;) making the ends tight \ draw- 
ing in the lower edges of the sides so that it shall not be more than a foot 
wide on the bottom ; inserting a floor; and then mounting it on and mak- 
ing it fast to two cross sills four or five inches square to keep the floor off* 
from the ground, and long enough to prevent it from being easily overturn- 
ed. The lower side board should be narrower than in fig. 31, on account 
of the increased hight given its upper edge by the sills. 

Still better, but somewhat more expensive, would be a rack of the same 
construction, with the sides like those of fig. 32, 

Or, the sides might consist of rundles as in fig. 33. In either of the, 
preceding, the top might be nailed down, and the fodder inserted by littlej 
doors in the ends. 

The following form and description of an English rack is from thos 
" Book of the Farm."* 



Fig. 33. 




SPARREI> RACK. 

" T have found," says Mr. Stephens, " this form convenient, containing as much straw a«: 
a time as should be given, admitting the straw easily into it, being easily moved about of 

* It will be found in the reprint of this splendid Tsork, in- The Farmers' Ubrai^v toI. il p. 440- 

2G 



202 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



easy access t« the sheep, and being so near the ground as to form an excellent shelter. It 
is made of wood, is 9 feet in length, 4.^ feet in hight, and 3 feet in width, having a sparred 
rack with a double face below, which is covered with an angled roof of boards to throw off 
the rain. The rack is snp])orted on two triangular-shaped ti-essels b, shod with iron at the 
points, which are pushed into the gi'ound, and act as stays against the eflects of the wind 
iroui either side. The biUet c, fixed on the under or acute edge of the rack, rests upon the 
ground, and in common with the feet, supports it from bending down in the middle. The 

lid a is opened on hinges when the fodder is put into the rack Such a rack is easily 

moved about by two persons, and their position should be changed according to a change 
of wind indicative of a storm." 

I used racks formed of rounds (or " spaned ") for several years, and 
found tbeni decidedly objectionable. The sheep grasping a lock of hay in 
its mouth, brings the head to its natural position, and then draws in the 
adhering fibres in tlie process of mastication. But when eating from a 
rack, it will 7iot pick up the hay which it drops under foot. In the box or 
liole racks (figs. 31 and 32) most sheep will not withdraw their heads 
from the openings, as they can there hold them in the ordinary position 
for mastication, and as, if they step back to do so, they are very liable to 
be crowded out of their places. The hay, therefore, is not drawn out of 
the rack, and if any is dropped, it falls within it and is saved. At a sparred 
rack, the sheep will not keep its nose between the rundles (in a horizon- 
tal or upward position) until it detaches a mere mouthfull of hay. It will, 
particidnrly when partly sated, tivitch out its fodder prior to mastication, 
and all which scatters off and drops to the ground, is trampled under foot 
and wasted, except for the mere purpose of manure. A considerable loss 
will always insult from this cause. 

And there is another objection to this form of rack, particularly where 
it runs ^own to an acute edge on the bottom, as in fig. 33. The sheep 
frequently drawing the hay from the lower part, will shake down from 
above hay-seeds and diaft'into the wool on their head and necks ; and the 
wind will soixietimes caiTy these as far as their shouldei's and even their 
backs. As heretofoi-e remarked, these cannot be washed out, and they 
materially lower the market value of the wool. 

The following rack has been used and is highly approved by my friend, 
George Geddes, Esq., of Fairmount, N. Y., to whom I am indebted for 
the drawing and description of the cut. It serves both for a rack and 
feje ding-trough. 

Fig. 34. 




THE U0!PPEE-KACK. 



^'The above is Intended to r^resent a section of what I think the best sheep-rack I have 
«een. 

" A piece of durable wood about 4i feet long, 6 or 8 inches deep, and 4 inches thick, 
has two j2otche«, ci, e, cut iat9 it, Aud two itroughs, made of inch boards, b, b, b, b, placed ia 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



203 



these notches, and nailed fast, constitutes the foundation. If the rack is to be 14 feet long, 
three sills will be required. The ends of the rack are made by nailing against the side of 
the sill-boards that reach up as high as it is desired to have the rack, and naih driven 
through these end-boards uito the ends of the side-boards/,/, secure them. The sides 
may he farther strengthened by pieces of board on the outside of them, and fitted into the 
trough. A roof may be put over all if desired. With a roof, the fodder is kept entirely 
from the weather, and no seeds or chatFcan get into the wool." 

Troughs. — Threshed grain, chopped roots, &c., when fed to sheep 
should be laid in troughs. With any of the preceding forms of racks, ex- 
cepting fig. 34, a separate trough would be required. For a number of 
years I have used those of the following form, and have found them every 
way satisfactory. 

Fi2. 35. 




SHEEP-TROUGH. 

One of the side-boards is usually about ten and the other eleven inches 
wide. The feet are commonly of two-inch plank, rising high enough on 
the sides to keep the sides of the trough firm in their places. 

In our snowy climate they are turned over after feeding, and when falls 
of snow are anticipated, one end is laid on the yard fence.* 

The following elaborately ingenious contrivance for keeping grain where 
sheep can feed on it at tvill, is from the " Book of the Farm," and I ap- 
pend the author's description of it.t 

Fig. 36. Fig. 37. 





VERTICAL SECTION OF INTERIOR 
OF GRAIN BOX. 



GRAIN BOX FOR SHEEP. 



" There is a mode of preserving com (grain) for sheep on turnips which has been tried 
with success in Fife. It consists of a box like a hay -rack, in which the grain is at all 
times kept closely shut up, except when sheep wish to eat it, and then they get it by 
a simple contrivance. The box a b contains the grain, into which it is poured through the 
small hinged lid y. The cover c d concealing the grain, is also hinged, and when elevated the 
sheep have access to the grain. Its elevation is effected by the pressure of the sheep's fore- 
feet upon the platform e f, which, moving as a lever, acts upon the lower ends of the up- 
right rods g and h, raises them up, and elevates the cover c d, under which their heads 
then find admittance into the box. A similar apparatus gives them access to the other side 
of the box. The whole machine can be moved about to convenient places by means of 



* To you, Sir, living on the ocean shore of South Carolina, and who, I think, have not visited the North, 
in the depth of winter, the idea of a farmer's finding the racks used by him the day before, buried under 
from eighteen inches to three feet of enow, and having to di^ them out, may be rather an odd one I But, 
nevertheless, it is a matter of no very rare occurrence, at least at the lowest depth mentioned. 

t See Farmers' Library, vol. ii.. No. 10, p. 476. 



204 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

four wheels. The construction of the interior of the box being somewhat peculiar, another, 
fig. 37, is given as a vertical section of it, where b is the hinged lid by which the grain 
is put into the box, whence it is at once received into the hopper d, the bottom of which 
being open, and brought near that of the box, a small space only is left for the grain to 
j)ass into the box, the hopper funning the grain-store , a is the cover of the box raised 
on its hinges by the rod /, acted upon by the platform e f, fig. 35; and, when in this po- 
sition, the sheep put their heads below a at c, and eat the grain at d. Machines of simi- 
lar construction to this have also been devised to serve poultry with grain at will." 

I never have thought it best in feeding or fattening any animals, or, at 
all events, any quadrupeds, to allow them grain at will — preferring stated 
feeds ; and the same remark is applicable to fodder. If this system is de- 
parted fi'om in using depository racks, as heretofore recommended, it is 
because it is rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case. A Me- 
rino store-sheep, allov\'ed grain ad libitum, w^ould stand a chance to inflict 
an injury on itself, and I cannot but believe that grain so fed would gen- 
erally be productive of more injury than benefit. 

Barns and Sheds, &c. — Sheep barns and sheds, at the North, are fre- 
quently made very elaboiate contrivances — particularly on paper. But 
expensive barns, with feeding-cellars and other arrangements for keeping 
sheep within doors during a greater portion of the winter, would, it strikes 
me, be entirely out of place in the South. Even in our rigorous climate, 
none but the breeders of Saxons pretend to make a regular practice of 
feeding under cover. 

Humanity and economy both dictate, here, that sheep be provided with 
shelters to He under nights, and to which they can resort at will. In our 
severe winter storms, it is sometimes necessary, or at least by far the best, 
to feed under shelter for a day or two. It is not an uncommon circum- 
stance in New- York and New-England, for snow to fall to the depth of 
20 or 30 inches within 24 or 48 hours, and then to be succeeded by a 
strong and intensely cold west or north-west wind of two or three days' 
continuance,* which lifts the snow, blocking up the roads, and piling huge 
drifts to the leeward of fences, barns, &c. A flock without shelter will 
huddle closely together, turning their backs to the storm, constantly step- 
ping and thus treading down the snow as it rises about them. Strong, close- 
coated sheep do not seem to suffer as much from the cold, for a period, as 
would be expected. But it is next to impossible to feed them enough or 
half enough, under such circumstances, without an immense waste of hay 
— entirely impossible, without racks. The hay is whirled away in an in- 
stant by the wind, and even if racks are used, the sheep leaving their hud- 
dle where they were kept warm and even moist by the melting of the snow 
in their wool, soon get chilled and are disposed to return to their huddle. 
Imperfectly filled with food, the supply of animal heat is lowered, and at 
the end of the second or third day, the feeble ones have sunk down hope- 
lessly, the yearlings and oldish ones have received a shock which nothing 
but careful nursing will recover them from, and even the strongest have 
suffered an injurious loss in condition. 

Few holders of more than 40 or 50 sheep now attempt to get along 
here without some kind of shelters. The following (fig. 38) is a very 
common form of a Northern sheep-barn with sheds. The sheds front the 
south, or, what is a better arrangement, one fronts the east, and the other, 
being turned to a right angle to the direction of this, fronts the south. I 
have represented hole racks, as in fig. 32, running round the sheds, as, 
although not yet in general use, they are undoubtedly the best in such sit- 

* These terrible wind-storms are of much longer continuance in many parts of New-England. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



205 



uations. The sheds are not usually framed or silled, — but are supported 
by posts of some durable timber set in the ground. The roofs are formed 
of boards "battened " with slabs. The barn has no partitions within, and 
is entirely filled with hay. 



Fig. 38. 




SHEEP-BARN. 



There are many situations where these open sheds are very liable to have 
snow drifted under them by certain winds, and they are subject in all cases 
in severe gales, to have the snow carried over them to fall down in large 
drifts in front, which gradually encroach on the sheltered space, and are 
very inconvenient — particularly when they thaw. I therefore much prefer 
sheep-houses covered on all sides, with the exception of a wide door-way 
for ingress and egress, and one or two windows for ventilation when it is 
necessary. They are convenient for yarding sheep, for the various process- 
es where this is required, as for shearing, marking, sorting, "doctoring," 

Fig. 39. 




THE OUTSIDE STELL. 



&c., and especially so, for lambing places or the confinement of newly 
shorn sheep in cold storms. They should be spacious enough, so that in 



206 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



addition to the outside racts, others can be placed temporaiily through 
the middle when required. 

In many parts of Scotland, "Stells," as they are called, are made use 
of to shelter sheep. Fig. 39 on the preceding page is the form of one given 
in " The Book of the Farm," and the author's description of it : 

" In a storm, their provender cannot be given to the sheep upon snow, safely and conven- 
iently, as grouud-dnft may blow and cover both ; and no place is so suitable for the purpose 
as a stell It may be formed of planting or high stone-wall. Either will afford shel- 
ter ; but the former most, though most costly, as it should be fenced by a stone-wall. Of 
this class I conceive the form represented (fig. 38) a good one, and which may be char- 
acterized as an ow^.sii^e stell The circumscnbing strong black line is a stone-wall six 

feet high ; the dark gi-ound within is covered with trees. Its four rounded projections shel- 
ter a corres{)onding muiiber of recesses embraced between them, so that let the wind blow 
from what quarter it may, two of the recesses will he always sheltered from the storm. The 
fiize of this stell is regulated bf the number of sheep kept; but this rule may be remem- 
bered in regard to its accommodation for stock, that each recess occupies about 4 part of the 
space comi)rehended between the extiemities of the 4 projections; so that in a stell covering 
4 acres — which is perhaps the least size they should be, every recess will contain ^ an acre." 

The two following are forms of stells, composed of stone-wall, without 
planting. 

Fig. 40. 




Fig 41. 




ANCIENT STELLS. 



Figures 42 and 43, on the following page, are forms of circular stells, 
the first made by stone-walls and planting, as in fig. 39. The open space 
a is occupied by the sheep, and Z» is a funnel-shaped opening to it. 

On the whole I should consider fig. 42 preferable to any of the preceding 
forms. Figure 43 represents one of the same form, but Avithout the 
planting, with a stack in the middle, &:c. Either of the stells which are 
formed in part of trees, would he convenient in severe winds, would form 
excellent shades in summer, and would constitute highly ornamental ob- 
jects on the farm, and in the landscape. On the most northerly of the 
Southern mountains, where consideralile snow falls, they might even be 
good contrivances for winter shelter. They might also be convenient on 
the lowlands farther south, provided the shelter of evergreens could be 
made dense enough to protect the sheep from the winter rains. In this 
case, the stell or covert might be of any shape, and ought to have no cen 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



207 



h'al opening. It would be merely a dense clump of evergreen trees, for 
the sheep to take refuge under in storms of rain, and it might be suiTound- 
ed on the outside with a tight board fence or stone-wall, if much exposed 

Fig. 42. 




THE INSIDE CIRCULAR STELL. 



to the sweep of cold winds. As the sheep would lie among the trees, a 
clump 50 or 60 feet in diameter — though 100 feet would be bettei- — would 
suffice for 100 sheep. 



Fig. 43. 



^^^J^^Wjprr^^^ 




THE CIRCULAR STELL FITTED UP WITH HAY-RACKS. 

But in determining upon the best winter shelters, for the various re- 
gions in the South, the fact must not be lost sight of that cold rains, or 
rains of any temperature, when immediately succeeded, by cold or freezing 
weather, or cold, piercing winds, are more hurtful to sheep than even snow- 
storms — and that consequently sheep must be adequately guarded against 
them. Thei"e must also be suitable shelter from any storms to whirh the 
country is subject, in the lamhing season. Any person with the least ex- 
perience can determine whether an inclosed clump of trees will answer 
these purposes, in his own immediate region. 

I think it very probable that in the Gulf States, and some of the lower 
Atlantic ones — particularly in regions near the ocean — these tree coverts, 



208 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



surrounded by fences to break the winds, would be found sufficient. In 
sections infested with wolves, they might also be made to answer ^or folds, 
by carrying the fence to the requisite hight, to bar the ingress of the wolf 
But farther north, and on the high lands and mountains, better shelters 
would, I am inclined to think, in the end, be found more economical. 

The simplest and cheapest kind of shed is represented in the following 
cut (fig. 44). It is formed by poles or rails, the upper ends resting on a 
strong horizontal pole supported by crotched posts set in the ground. It 
may be rendered rain-proof by pea-haulm, straw, or pine boughs. 

Fig. 44. 




tr^ 



SHED OF RAILS. 



In a region where lumber is A'ery cheap, planks or boards (of sufficient 
thickness not to spring downward and thus o])en the roof) battened with 
slabs, may take the place of the poles and boughs; and they would make 
a tighter and more durable roof If the lower ends of the boards or poles 
are raised a couple of feet from the ground, by placing a log under them, 
the shed will shelter more sheep. 

These movable sheds may be connected with hay-barns, " hay-barracks," 
stacks, or they may surround an inclosed space with a stack in the middle 
like fig. 43. In the latter case, however, the yard should be square, in- 
stead of round, on account of the divergence in the lower ends of the 
boards or poles, which the round form would render necessary. 

Sheds of this descri})tion are frequently made, in the North, between 
two stacks. The end of the horizontal supporting pole is placed on the 
stack-pens, when the stacks are built, and the middle is propped by 
crotched posts. The supporting-pole may rest, in the same way, on the 
upper girts of two hay-barracks ; or two such sheds (at angles with each 
other) might form wings to this structure. The " barrack," as it is pro- 
vincially tei'med in the North, would, it strikes me, afford a most econom- 
ical and a most convenient way of storing fodder in the South. It is ea- 
sily movable, so that it possesses the same advantage that stacks do, in 
manuring different parts of the field or farm. On the other hand, the fod- 
der cannot be drenched by a winter rain, as in a partly fed out stack. 
Hay can be more rapidly stored in it than on a stack at any time, and you 
can pitch into it to the last moment, when threatened with rahi, without 
stopping to round up the top as is necessary in a stack. The outside is 
not weather-beaten and damaged, as is the case with the sides, and fre- 
quently with a considerable of the top of a stack. Fig. 45 (on the next 
page) represents the form of a barrack. It is 12 feet square on the bot- 
tom, and the frame is formed by girting together four strong poles, 16 feet 
long, at the bottom, and G feet from the bottom. Boards 6 feet long are 
nailed perpeTidicnlarly on the girts. Two-inch holes are bored at con- 
venient distances through tlic corner poles, so that the roof, which rests 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



209 



on pins thrust through these holes, can be raised or lowered, at pleasure. It 

is occasionally lowered as the fodder gets lower in the barrack, so that 

rain or snow shall not drive under it. It seems to me that tliis structuie 

would be remarkably well adapted 

to the storing and feeding out of un- Fig. 45. 

threshed peas, which, as has been 

remarked in a former Letter, are so 

advantageously raised at the South, 

and constitute so admirable a feed 

for sheep. 

On all large sheep-farms con- 
venience requires that there be one 
barn of considerable size, to con- 
tain the shearing-floor, and the ne- 
cessary conveniences about it for 
yarding the sheep, &c. ,This should 
also, for economy, be a hay-barn, 

(where hay is used,) and from its barrack. 

necessary size (for the shearing- 
floor), it should hold hay for 400 sheep. It may be constructed in the 
corner of four fields, so that four hundred sheep can be fed from it, with- 
out making improperly sized flocks. At this barn it would be expedient 
to make the best shelters, and to bring together all the breeding-ewes on 
the farm, if their number did not exceed 400. Thus the shepherd would 
be saved much travel at all times, and particularly at the lambing-time, 
and each flock would be .under his almost constant supervision. 

I offer the following ground-plan of a barn with fixtures, &c., as one 
which I think will be found well adapted to the purpose above specified. 
The upper is the north part of the plan. 

Fig. 46. 












a 






'N 


• - 


1 










i 








• . • • 




d 


€ 






^ 






y 


a 


fil — - 


J 




o 








a 





The dotted lines a, a, a, a, are the fences dividing four fields, which would 
corner at the south-east corner of the bam. The barn is surrounded by double 
lines, and the sheds by double lines on the backs and ends — the dots in 
front of them, representing the crotched posts supporting their front. The 
single black lines round the yards, represent tight board fences, which 
screen the four yards b, c, d, e, from every wind. There are two pumps and 
troughs at h, h, which accommodate the whole four fields, if a want of 
springs or streams in them render these necessary. The sheds are so ar- 

3D 



210 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



ranged that even without the screens they entirely shut out the north and 
west winds — the prevaihng and severe winter ones of this region — and if 
other ones are more prevalent in other regions, the sheds can be changed 
accordingly. Each of the sheds is 50 feet long and 12 feet wide — six 
square feet being the smallest ^?o/;e/- allowance of sheltered area for each 
sheep. The barn is 48 feet square, a floor 13 feet wide running east and 
west through the center, for shearing and for the drawing in of hay. An 
alley 4 feet wide and 8 feet high (boauled up on the side toward the 
mow, and covered at the top) cuts off the lower part of each bay from the 
east wall of the barn. This is for carrying hay into the yards b, c. It is 
carried into the yards <Z, c, from the large doors at each end of the shearing- 
floor (or from smaller ones cut through them.) The south bay is repre- 
sented as divided by a temporary fence, cutting it into two pens^i g- The 
outside inclosure c, for yarding the sheep, communicating by a door with 
f, and g being used as a room to tie up wool in, presents precisely the 
same arrangement which is exhibited in the cut of the shearing-bam 
(fig. 22) in Letter XII. 

Tlie barn here given (fig. 46) is probably larger than would be neces- 
sary for 400 sheep, in most parts of the South. Its necessary size is a 
question to be entirely determined by the cHmate. For large flocks of 
sheep, I should regard the storage of some hay or other fodder for winter 
as an indispensable precavtiofiary measure, at least, in any part of the 
United States ; and, other things being equal, the farther north, or the more 
elevated the land, the greater would be the necessary amount to be stored. 

The shearing-floor shortened to 30 or 35 feet, would still, perhaps, be 
sufficiently commodious, and this would reduce the dimensions of the barn 
east and west 13 or 18 feet ; and one of the bays might be dispensed with. 
But having constructed so large, so smooth, and so tight a barn-floor as 
the shearing one ought to be, it would be good economy to use it for the 
threshing of grain. One of the bays, therefore, might be used for the 
storage of grain in the sheaf I have always considered this an excellent 
arrangement in a Northi'in barn of this description, as in our cold climate 
the sheep require much straw litter in their sheds, yards, &c. Thrown 
out to them daily, as threshed, much bnght straw and chaff will be con- 
sumed by them — particularly of greenish cut oats. 

The yards c, e, in fig. 46 are represented but the width of the bam, 48 
feet. 1 f these were reduced too much, by diminishing the size of the bam, 
the shed of c- could be carried farther west at ;, and that of e farther north 
at i, being connected with the bam by wind-breakers, composed of a tight 
board fence, as high as the summit of the sheds. Or, what would perhaps 
be better, the fences thrown forward in a straight line from the ends of 
these two sheds might be continued until they intersected each other, and 
a fence from their point of intersection to the south-east corner of the bam 
would divide the two yards. 

Feeotivc; Shk.ep with other Stock. — Sheep should not run or be fed, 
in yards, with any other stock. Cattle hook them, often mortally. Colts 
tease and frefjueiitly iiijure them. It is often said that "colts will pickup 
what sheep leave." Well-managed sheep rarely leave anything — and if 
they chance to, it is better to rake it up and throw it into the colts'yard, 
than to feed them together. If sheep are not required to eat their feeds 
pretty clean, they will soon learn to waste large quantities. But if sheep 
are overfed with either hay or grain, it is not proper to compel them by 
starvation to come back and eat it. They will not unless sorely pinched. 
Clean out the troughs, — or rake up the hay, and the next time feed less. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



211 



Hay-Holders. — Where hay or other fodder is thrown out of the upper 
doors of a barn into the sheep-yard, as it always must necessarily be in a 
barn constructed like fig. 38, or any mere 7ia7/-harn, or where it is thrown 
from a barrack or stack, the sheep immediately rush on it, trampling it and 
soiling it, and the succeeding forkfuUs fall on their backs, filling their wool 
with dust, seed and chaff. This is avoided by hay-holders — yards 10 feet 
square — either portable by being made of posts and boards, or simply a 
pen of rails, placed under the doors of the bams, and by the sides of each 
stack or barrack. The hay is pitched into the holder, in fair weather 
enough for a day's foddering at a time, and is taken from this by forkfulls 
and placed in the racks. I would here offer a necessary caution in rela- 
tion to the use of rails or poles, for stack-pens or hay-holders. The poles 
should be so small as to entirely prevent the sheep from inserting their heads 
between them after hay. A sheep will often insert its head where the 
opening is wide enough for that pur])ose, shove it along or get crowded 
along, to where the opening is not wide enough to withdraw the head, and 
it will hang there until observed and extricated by the shepherd. If, as it 
often happens, it is thus caught when its fore parts are elevated by climb- 
ing up the side of the pen, it will continue to lose its fore footing in its 
struggles, and will soon choke to death. 

Winter Dry Feed for Sheep. — The proper dry winter fodder for sheep 
has already been repeatedly alluded to, in general terms. Volumes have 
been expended on this subject, paiticularly in Germany — and curious and 
elaborate systems of feeding given. In Germany great stress is laid on 
variet)/ in the winter fodder. In the German Farmer's Encyclopaedia, the 
following table of the proper variations and amounts of feed is given by 
Petri. 

TABLE 15. 







l.olh, 






l.ntli. 






l.oth. 




Day. 


Lbe. 


equal 
V^ ox. 


M-^trninp. 


t.ba. 


T^. 


Noon. 


Lbs. 


equal 


Evening. 


1 




21 


Iiay 




21 


hay 




21 


hay 


o 


1 


1 


rye straw 


1 


22 


hay 


1 


1 


rye straw 


3 




23 


bean straw 




26 


vetch hay 




23 


bean straw 


4 


1 




wheat straw 


1 




sainfoin 


1 




wheat straw 


■T 


1 


6 


oat straw 




21 


hay 


1 


C 


oat straw 


6 


I 


6 


articlioko stalk 


1 


19 


red clover 


1 


6 


artichoke .^talk 


7 


1 


8 


turkey wheat 


1 


12 


lacern 


1 


8 


turkey wheat str'w 


8 


1 


8 


buckwheat straw 


1 


16 


hay 


1 


8 


buckwheat straw 


9 


1 


6 


oat straw 




7 


horse-beans 


1 


G 


oat straw 


10 




19 


red ckiver 




19 


red clover 




19 


red clove.- 


U 




18 


sainfoin 




18 


sainfoin 




18 


.sainfoin 


12 


1 


6 


millet straw 


1 


6 


millet straw 


1 


6 


millet straw 


13 




30 


lentil straw 




21 


hay 




30 


lentil straw 


14 




30 


pea straw 




21 


hay 




30 


pea straw 


15 




30 


barley straw 


1 




artichoke stalk 




30 


barlej- .straw 


16 


1 


10 


hor.se-bean straw 


] 


10 


liorse bean straw 


1 


10 


hor.sebean straw 


17 


1 


1 


rye straw 


1 


n 


oat straw 


1 


1 


rye straw 


18 


1 


3 


wheat straw 


1 


9 


oat straw 


1 


3 


wheat straw 


19 


I 


e 


i-ye .«traw 


1 




lurkev-wheat 


1 


3 


wheat straw 


20 


1 


6 


oat strav>' ! 


Imrkey wheat 


1 


6 


oat straw 


21 


1 


3 


>Ahe!U straw 


22 artiehoke .-talk 


1 


6 


oat straw 


22 




30 


lentil straw 1 1 


i 30 vetch straw 




30 


lentil straw 


23 


I 


6 


oat .uraw I 6 Iwlieat straw 


1 


6 


oat straw 



The same wrlfer gi'-es the following as the proper winter feed of a 
ewe, the month preceding iam!)ing : 



212 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



TABLE 16. 



( 


In the morning, J lb. 


of good oat straw. 




1st day.. < 


noon i .. 


of good hay of clover. 




( 


evening. -1 .. 


of good barley straw. 




( 


' . . morning .J . . 


of millet straw. 




2d day - - - 


noon 2 . . 


of potatoes with 4 oz. of chopped straw, and 4 oz. 


of oats. 


( 


evening.. J .. 


of barley straw. 






morning .| .. 


of hay. 




3d day . . < 


noon 1 .. 


of hay, 




{ 


evening..! .. 


of wheat, oat, harley or buckwheat straw. 






'' .. morning . j .. 


of summer straw. 




4th day..- 


noon 1 . . 


of chopped straw, with 3 oz. oats and 3 oz. bran 
with water. 


moistened 




evening. .J .. 


of winter straw. 




( 


' .. morning .| .. 


of hay. 




Stliday.. . 


noon 2 . . 


of potatoes with I lb. of chopped straw. 




i 


evening. .J .. 


of winter straw. 




{ 


■ .. morning. 1 .. 


of hay. 




6th day.. < 


noon as in 


4th day. 




( 


evening..! lb. 


of straw. 





All this would be infinitely " more nice than wise," in any part of the 
United States. Variations of dry fodder are well enough, but hundreds 
and thousands of Northern flocks receive nothing but ordinary hay, con- 
sisting mainly of Timothy, (Phleum fratcnsc,) some Red and White Clo- 
ver, ( Trifolium pratense et ripens,) and frequently a sprinkling of June or 
Spear grass, (Poa pratcnsis,) during the entire winter. Others receive an 
occasional fodder of corn-stalks and straw — and some farmers give a daily 
feed of grain through the winter. Where hay is the principal feed, it may 
be well, where it is convenient, to give corn-stalks (or "blades") every 
fifth or sixth feed, or even once a day. Or the daily feed, not of hay, might 
alternate between blades, pea-straw, straw of the cereal grains, &c. Should 
any other fodder besides hay be the principal one, as, for example, coni- 
blades or pea-haulm, each of the other fodders might be alternated in the 
game way. It is mainly, in my judgment, a question of convenience with 
the flock-master, provided ^proper sujiply of palatable nutriment within a 
proper compass, is given. Hay, clover, properly cured pea-haulm, and corn- 
blades are palatable to the sheep, and each contain the necessary supply 
of nutriment in the quantity which the sheep can readily take into its stom- 
ach. Consequently, from either of these, the sheep can derive its entire 
subsistence. The same remarks may, possibly, apply to greenish cut oat 
and barley straw; but it would not, I apprehend, be economical or alto- 
gether safe to confine any kind of sheep to the straw of the cereal grains 
unless some of those little hardy varieties of sheep which would be of no 
value in this country. Experiment will readily show the flock-master 
what kinds of food are palatable and agree with the health of his flock. 
The following exceedingly valuable Table, prepared by Boussingault, will 
give the value of various kinds of feed in comparison with ordinary natu- 
ral meadow hay, as ascertained by himself. Von Thaer, Block, and other 
distinguished Agricultural Chemists. The results are obtained by chemi- 
cal analysis, and by actual experiments in feeding. The amount of nitro- 
gen in 100 parts is made the chemical test of value, as it shows the quan- 
tity of fibrin, albumen, and casein, (by multiplying by 6.3.) The experi- 
mental result is obtained by weighing the animal and the feed, and giving 
him enough of each to maintain him in good condition. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



213 



TABLE 17. 



FODDERS. 

TABLE OF THE NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF FODDERS. 



Kinds of Food. 



Ordinnry natural meadow hay 

Do. of fine quality 

Do. select 

Do. freed from woody sterna 

Lucern hay 

Red clover hay, 2d year's growth. 
Red clover cut in flower, green, do. 

New wheat straw, crop 1841 

Old wheat straw 

Do. do. lower parts of the stalk 

Do. do. upper part of do. and ear. . 

New rye-straw 

Old do 

Oat-straw 

Barley dj 

Pea do 

Millet do 

Buckwheat do 

Lentil do 

Vetches cut in flower and dried ? 

into hay j 

Potato topa 

Field-beet leaves 

Carrot do 

Jerusalem artichoke stems 

Lime-trees, young shoots 

Canada Poplar do 

Oak do 

Acacia do. (autumn) 

Drum cabbage 

Swedish turnip 

Turnip 

Field-beet (1638) 

Do. white Silesian 

Carrots 

Jerusalem artichokes (1839) 

Do. (1836) 

Potatoes (1838) 

Do. (1836) 

Do. after keeping in the pit 

Cider apple pulp dried in the air.. 

Beet-root from the sugar mill 

Vetches in seed 

Field-beans 

White peas (dry) 

White haricots 

Lentils 

New Indian Com 

Buckwheat 

Barley (1 83(5) _ . 

Rarley-meal 

Oats (1838) 

Do. (1836) 

Rve (1833) 

Wheat (1836, Alsace) 

Do. from highly manured soil 

Recent Bran 



Wheat husks or chaff 

Rice (Piedmont) 

Gold of Pleasure seed (Madia) 

Do. cake 

Linseed cake 

Colza do 

Madia do 

Hemp do 

Poppy do 

Nut do 

Beech-mast do 

Arachis (Pindars) do 

Dry acorns 

Refuse of the wine-press, air-dried 



11.0 
14.0 
18.8 
14.0 
16.6 
10.1 
76.0 
26.0 
8.5 
5.3 
9.4 
18.7 
12.6 
21.0 
11.0 
8.5 
19.0 
11.6 
9.2 

11.0 

76.0 
88.9 
70.9 
86.4 
55.0 
62.5 
57.4 
53.6 
92.3 
91.0 
92.5 
87.8 
8.5.6 
87.6 
79.2 
75.5 
65.9 
79.4 
76.8 
6.4 
70.0 
14.6 
7.9 
8.6 
5.0 
9.0 
18.0 
12.5 
13.2 
13.0 
20.8 
12.4 
11.5 
10.5 
16.6 

37.1 

7.6 

13.4 

8.0 

11.2 

13.4 

10.5 

6.5 

5.0 

6.8 

6.0 

6.2 

6.6 



1.34 
1.50 
2.40 
2.44 
1.66 
1.70 

0.36 
0.53 
0.43 
1.42 
0.30 
0.50 
0.36 
0.30 
1.95 
0.96 
0.54 
1.18 

1.16 

2.30 
4..50 
2.94 
2.70 
3.25 
2.29 
2.16 
1..56 
3.70 
1.83 
1.70 
1.70 
1.43 
2.40 
1.60 
2.20 
1..50 
1.80 
1.18 
0.63 

5.13 
5.50 
4.20 
4.30 
4.40 
2.00 
2.40 
2.02 
2.46 
2.20 
2.22 
2.27 
2.33 
3.18 

2.18 

094 
1.39 
4.00 
5.70 
6.00 
.5.50 
5.93 
4.78 
5.70 
5..59 
3.53 
8.89 



48.2 3.31 



1.15 
1.30 
2.00 
2.10 
1.38 
1.54 
0.64 
0.27 
0.49 
0.41 
133 
0.24 
0.42 
0.30 
0.25 
1.79 
0.78 
0.48 
1.01 

1.14 

55 
0..=)0 
0.85 
0..i7 
1.45 
0.86 
0.92 
0.72 
0.28 
0.17 
0.13 
0.21 
0.18 
0.30 
0.33 
0.42 
0.36 
0.37 
0.30 
0.59 
0.38 
4.37 

5.n 

3.84 
4.58 
4.00 
1.64 
2.10 
1.76 
2.14 
1.74 
1.92 
2.00 
2.09 
2.65 

1.36 

0.85 
1.20 
3.67 
5.06 
5.20 
4.92 
5.51 
4.21 
5.36 
5.24 
3.31 
8.33 
0.80 
1.71 



600 



42 



200 



53 



100 



130 



429 600 

3001 250 

526 450 

460 250 



76 



90, 90 Dombasle, 
[Ciud, 

500 Rieder. 



400 Schwertz. 
400 do. 
90 Pohl. 



380 Boussingault. 
do. 

260 Boussingault. 



59 Boussingault. 



Some specimens 
are twice as rich. 



214 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTft. 



The great value of pea-haulm, as shown in the above Table, is worthy ol 
the particular notice of the Southern flock-master. Also that of millet 
straw, another crop peculiarly congenial to the Southern States, provided 
it can be cured so that sheep will eat it. Corn-stalks are not, unfortunate- 
ly, included in the Table. According to Petri, 100 pounds of corn "straw," 
(including stalks and leaves, I suppose,) contains but f as much nutriment 
as the same weight of " aromatic meadow hay," and not so much by 1 as 
an equal weight of oat or pea straw, which he makes equivalent to each 
other ! My opinion is that this by no means indicates the comparative 
value of ivell cured corn-stalks. No analysis of them now occurs to me, 
in any authority which I have on hand. Mr. Ellsworth, of the Patent Of- 
fice, stated in the Cultivator in 1842, that the juice of corn-stalks, on 
Beaume's Saccharometer, is equal in saccharine matter with that of the 
cane in this country, five times greater than that of the Northern sugar- 
maple, (Acer sacch arinum, ) and three times that of beet! The daily ex- 
periments of our farmers demonstrate the absurdity of placing corn-stalks 
below the value of the cereal straws. Cured green and bright they are a 
highly valuable fodder, and are relished by all herbivorous animals. My 
friend, James M. Ellis, Esq. of Onondaga, N. Y., one of the best managing 
flock-masters of this State, has fed corn-stalks largely to his sheep for sev- 
eral years and with decided succes. 



Effect of Food in the Production of Wool. — The fact has been be- 
fore alluded to that well fed sheep produce more wool than poorly fed 
ones. The question now arises — if the effect on the condition (flesh) of the 
sheep is the same, will one kind of food produce more wool than another"? 
No doctrine is more clearly recognized in Agricultural Chemistry, than 
that animal tissues derive their chemical components from the same com- 
ponents existing in their food.* The analyses of Liebig, Johnston, Scherer, 
Playfair, Boeckmann, Muldei", &c., show that the chemical composition of 
wool, hair, hoofs, nails, horns, feathers, lean meat, blood, cellular tissue, 
nerves, &;c. ai'e nearly identical. The organic part of wool, according to 
Johnston, t consists of carbon 50.65, hydrogen 7.03, nitrogen 17.71, oxy- 
gen and sulphur 24.61. The inorganic constituents are small. When 
burned, it leaves but 2 per cent of ash. The large quantity of nitro- 
gen (17.71) contained in wool, shows that its production is increased by 
highly azotized food. This is fully verified by the experiments made on 
Saxon sheep, in Silesia, by Reaumur, whose Table I append. A striking 
correspondence will be found to exist between the amount of wool and the 
amount of nitrogen in the food, 

TABLE 18. 



Kinds of food. 



1000 pounds of raw potatoes, with salt. 



1000 
1000 
1000 
lono 

1000 
1000 
1000 
1000 
1000 
1000 
1000 

1000 



without salt 

raw mangel-wurzel 

pease 

wheat 

rye, with Salt 

rye, without salt 

oats 

barley 

buckwheat 

pood hay 

bay, with straw, without other 

fodder 

^vhiskv, ptill-g-rains or wash. . . 



461 

44 

38 

134 

ISr") 

90 

83 

14fi 

136 

120 

58 

31 
3.'> 



H 

8 

31 

n 

131 
141 
101 
12 

H 

41 
101 



12 51 

10 141 



35 111 
33 81 
40 8 
60 1 
33 8 

12 14 

6 11 

4 



Nitrogen 
per cent, 
in food. 



0.36 
0.36 
0.21 
3.83 
2.09 
2.00 
2.00 
1.70 
1.90 
2.10 
1.15 



* For full infoi-mation on ihis whole subject, fee Liebie's Animal Chemistrj', Part I and II. 
t See Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry — Lecture XVIII. Analyses of the horny tis&ues, by 
be fouud in the Appendix to Liebig's Animal Chemistry. 



Scherer, will 



bHiit.r tiLSIiANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 215 



The singular difference stated in the Table, between the amount of wool 
produced by " good hay," and " hay with straw without other fodder," I 
confess is scarcely credible to me. It may be a misprint in the Table from 
which I copy. 

The peculiar value of pease not only in increasing the wool, where they 
rank^r*^,* but in the average comparative increase which they produce in 
all the tissues, is again worthy of notice. 

Effect of Food in producing Fat and Muscle. — The increase of fat 
and muscle, as of wool, depends upon the nature of the food. It would 
be foreign from my purpose to enter into an elaborate theoretical exam- 
ination of this subject. Liebig, in Parts I. and II. of his Animal Chemis- 
try, has covered the whole ground, and to him I take the liberty to refer 
you. Mr. Spooner, writing for England, where the production of flesh 
and fat is the primary object of Sheep Husbandry, has given a synopsis 
of Liebig's positions, analyses, &c., in his chapter (XXI.) on Feeding and 
Fattening — and the substance of this is again repeated by Mr. Morrell in 
his chapters on the same subjects, in The American Shepherd. To either 
of the latter I would refer you for sufficient details for practical purposes, 
or for Jull information, to Liebig. 

The Tables of Boussingault and Reaumur, already given, (Tables 17 and 
18,) sufficiently indicate the value of the various grains, straw, roots, &c., 
in fattening. 

It is not very common, in the North, for ivool-growcrs to fatten their 
wethers, for market, by extra winter feeding. Some give them a little 
more generous keep the winter befoie they are to be turned off, and then 
sell them when they have attained their maximum fatness the succeeding 
fall. When winter fattening is attempted, sheep require warm, dry shel- 
ters, and should receive, in addition to all the hay they will eat, meal twice 
a day in troughs — or meal once and chopped roots once. The equivalent 
of from half a pint to a pint of (yellow) corn meal per head per diem is 
about as much as ordinary flocks of Merino wethers will profitably con- 
sume, though in selected flocks consisting of large animals, this amount is 
frequently exceeded. 

Feeding Grain to Store-Sheep in Winter. — The expediency of feed- 
ing grain to store-sheep in winter depends much upon circumstances. If 
in a climate where they can obtain a proper supply of grass or other gieon 
esculents, it would, of course, be unnecessary. Neither is it a matter of 
necessity where the ground is frozen or covered with snow for weeks or 
months, provided the sheep be supplied plentifully with good dry foddor. 
Near markets where the coarse grains find a good and ready sale, it is not 
usual in the North, to feed grain. Remote from markets, it is generally 
fed by the holders of large flocks. Oats are commonly preferred, and 
they are fed at the rate of a gill a head per day. Some feed half the 
same amount of (yellow) corn. Fewer sheep — particularly lambs, year- 
lings, and crones — get thin and perish, where they receive a daily feed of 
grain ; they consume less hay ; and their fleeces are increased in weight. 
On the whole, therefore, it is considered good economy. Where no grain 
is fed, thiee daily feeds of hay are given. It is a common and very good 
practice to feed greenish cut oafs in the bundle, at noon, and give but two 
feeds of hay — one at morning and one at night. A few feed greenish 
cut peas in the same way. In warm, thawing weather when sheep get 

* With the exception of " hay and straw " — the given product of which, in wool, I have already staled 
must undoubtedly be misprinted. 



216 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

to the ground, and refuse dry hay, a little grain assists materially in 
keeping up their strength and condition. This may furnish a useful 
hint for many parts of the South. When the feed is shortest in winter, 
in the South, there are many localities where sheep would get enough 
gi-ass to take off their appetite for dry hay, but not quite enough to keep 
them in prime condition. A moderate daily feed of oats or pease placed 
in the depository racks, would keep them strong, in good plight for the 
lambing season, and increase their weight of wool. 

Few Northern farmers feed Indian corn to store-sheep. It is consid- 
ered " too hot and stimulating," and sheep are thought to be more liable 
to become " cloyed " on it than on oats, pease, &c. I never have fed it to 
Blieep sufficiently to speak advisedly on this point. A neighboring flock- 
master whose admirable arrangements for keeping sheep are only equaled 
by his usual success, lost most of a large flock of lambs a few winters 
since. They received all they would eat of the best hay, and, as the 
owner sitpposed, a half gill of corn a head per day. They were in fine 
order in the beginning, and for some time into the winter. During a thaw, 
when they got a little off" from their feed, and looked " hollow," the shep- 
herd, witjiout the knowledge of the owner, increased the feed of corn. 
This caused them to eat still less hay, and the shepherd not only continued 
but increased the allowance of the corn as their appetite for hay dimin- 
ished. In a short time they ate scarcely any hay, and soon after began to 
eat their corn very irregularly. Their stomachs were now so completely 
deranged, that they would not eat anything, in quantities sufficient for 
their subsistence, and they perished rapidly and miserably. The same 
consequences might doubtless have ensued from feeding other grains, in 
the same improper manner. But I am inclined to think that the evil 
would have been less rapid and remediless with some other grains. I do 
not consider yellow corn a very safe feed, at least for lambs and yearlings. 
From the obviously different character of the larger Southern varieties, 
I presume they would be less, and very probably not at all, objectionable 
for sheep feed. Haifa gill of yellow corn, or a gill of oats joer head, is a 
sufficient daily allowance of grain. While there can be nothing more ab- 
surd than the German starving system to increase the fineness of the wool, 
excessive fatness is not to be aimed at, especially in breeding-ewes. Store 
sheep should be kept in good, fair, j^Z?/?;^/; condition. Lambs and yearlings 
may be as fat as they will become on proper feeding. 

It will not do to suffer sheep to get thin in the winter, with the idea 
that their condition can at any time be readily raised by better feed, as 
with the horse or ox. It is always difficult, and unless properly managed, 
expensive and hazardous, to attempt to raise the condition of a poor flock 
in the winter — especially if they have reached that point where they mani- 
fest loeakness. If the feeding of a liberal allowance of grain be suddenly 
commenced, fatal diaiThea will frequently supervene. All extra feeding, 
therefore, must be begun very gradually, and it does not seem, in any case, 
to produce proportionable results. 

I have seen it stated that sheep will eat cotton-seed and thrive on it. 
If this be true, this must, of course, be a far more remunerating applica- 
tion of that product, than as a mere manure to soils. 

Feeding Roots, Browse, &c., in Winter. — Ruta-bagas, Irish potatoes, 
&c., make a good substitute for grain, as an extra feed for grown sheep. 
I prefer the ruta-baga to the potato in equivalents of nutriment. I do not 
consider either of them, or any other root, as good for lambs and yearlings 
as an equivalent in grain. Sheep may be taught to eat nearly all the cul- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 217 

tivated roots. This is done by withholding salt from them, and then feed- 
ing the chopped root a few times rubbed with just sufficient salt to induce 
them to eat the root to obtain it ; but not enough to satisfy their appetite 
for salt before they have acquired a taste for the roots. 

It is customary with some of our flock-masters to cut down from time 
to time, in the winter, and draw into the sheep-yards, young trees of the; 
hemlock f Abies canadensis). The foliage is greedily eaten by sheep, af- 
ter being confined for some time to dry feed. I have known sheep, un^ 
doubtedly, I think, killed by overeating it. This browse is commonly used 
for some supposed medicinal virtues. It is pronounced " healthy for 
sheep." The popular supposition is that it is a tonic and stimulant.. If 
this be true, which I will not pause to inquire, o^ whdX good use ai'e tonics, 
and stimulants to Jiealt/ii/ animals ? With sheep, as with horses, and evens 
with. va.en, preventive medicines are productive of injury in a thousand 
cases, where they are of benefit in one. There could be no objection, cer- 
tainly, to sheep's eating the foliage of the hemlock, if it was constantly 
accessible to them. Their instincts, in that case, would teash them 
whether, and in what quantities, to devour it. But when entirely confined 
to dry feed for a protracted period, sheep will consume hurtful a^nd eveu 
poisonous succulents — and of the most wholesome ones, hurtful qv,antities^ 
As a mere laxative, an occasional feed of hemlock may be benefieial; but 
in this point of view, a day's run at grass in a thaw, or a feed of roots^ 
would produce the same result. In a climate where grass; is ol>tained 
most of the time, I should consider browse for medicinal puipoees- entirely 
unnecessary. 

Winter Feed of Breeding-Ewes. — Until two &r three weeks pre- 
ceding lambing, it is only necessary that breeding-ewes> like other store- 
sheep, be kept in good plump ordinary condition. No? are any separate' 
arrangements necessary fijr them, after that period, in a climate wher& 
they obtain sufficient succulent food to provide foi" a ppopsr secretion of 
milk. In backward seasons in the North, where the grass does not start, 
prior to the lambing time, careful flock-master& ie^tk their ewes chopped 
roots, or roots mixed witli oat or pea meal. This is,, ia my judgment^ 
excellent economy.* 

Regularity in Feeding. — If there is one ruJe which saay be consider- 
ed more imperative than any other in Sheep Husbandry, Lt is that the ut- 
most regularity be preserved in feeding. First, there should be regularity 
as to the times of feeding. However abuTidantly provided for, when a 
flock are foddered sometimes at one ho^ur and sometimes at another^ — 
sometimes three times a day and sometimes, twice — some days grain and 
some days none — they cannot he made to thrive. They will do far better 
on inferior keep, if fed with strict regularity. In a cliiaate where they re- 
quire hay three times a day, the best times far feeding are about sunrise in 
the morning, at noon, and an hour before dark at night.. Unlike cattle and 
hoi'ses, sheep do not eat well in the da/rk^ and thei'efoife they sh&uld have 
time to consume their feed before night sets in.. Noon is the comraon time- 
for feeding grain or roots, and is the best time if but twafodderings of hay 
are given. If the sheep receive hay thi-ee times, it is not a siatter of 
much consequence with which feetling the giain is gi^en, ©nly that the 
practice be uniform. 

It is also highly essential that there be regialarifey preserved i® the amount 
fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true, depend much upon the 

^ For the effect of the various esculents oa ttLs q.uamit7 aad (^uaUty of Uie milk,, see Liebig.'s A-nimal Chenu 

3E 



218 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

weather. The keener the cold, the more sheep will eat. In the South 
much would also depend upon the amount of grass obtained. In many 
places a light daily foddering would suffice — in others, a light foddenng 
placed in the depository racks once in two days would answer the purpose. 
In the steady cold weather of the North, the shepherd readily learns to de- 
termine about how much hay will be consumed before the next foddering 
time. And this is the amount which should, as near as may be, be regu- 
larly fed. In feeding grain or roots there is no difficulty in preserving en- 
tire regularity, and it is vastly more important than in feeding hay. Of 
the latter a sheep will not overeat and surfeit itself. Of the former it will. 
And if not fed grain to the point of surfeiting, but still over-plenteously, 
it will expect a like amount at the next feeding, and failing to receive it, 
will pine for it and manifest uneasiness. The effect of such irregularity 
on the stomach and system of any animal is bad — and the sheep suffers 
more from it than any other animal. I would much rather that my flock 
receive no grain at all, than that they receive it without regard to regular- 
ity in the amount. The shepherd should be required to measure out the 
grain to sheep in all instances — instead of guessing it out — and to measure 
it to each separate flock. 

S^Lx. — Sheep undoubtedly require salt in winter. Some salt their hay 
when it is stored in the barn or stack. This is objectionable, as you thus 
constitute yourself the judge, or controller in a matter, where the appetite 
of the sheep is a much safer guide. It may be left accessible to them in 
the salt-box (fig. 28) as in summer, or it is an excellent plan to give them an 
occasional feed of brined hay or straw. This last is done in warm thaw- 
ing weather, when their appetite is poor, and thus serves a double purpose. 
With a wisp of straw sprinkle a thin layer of straw with brine — then an- 
other layer of straw and another sprinkling, and so on. Let this lie until 
the next day, for the brine to be absorbed by the straw, and then feed it to 
all the gi-azing animals on the farm which need salting. 

Water. — Unless sheep have access to succulent food or clean snow, 
water is indispensable. Constant access to a brook or spring is best, but 
in default of this, they should be watered, at least once a day, in some other 
way. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 219 



LETTER XIV. 

ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



Character of American ovine veterinary works— of the Knglish. ..Anatomical details of the latter valuable 
— necessity of 0011101" clear from their systems of pathology and therapeutics — reasons. .-Exciting causes 
of disease even in adjacent localities in England not the same — popular superstitions on the subject. ..Ne- 
cessarily greater ditferences as between remote countries possessing different climates, etc Ravages of 

rot in Europe — scarcely known in most parts of America. ..Exciting causes apparently the same in both 

Hoofail, though retained here by contagion, not primarily produced by the same causes as in England. .. 
Various European diseases not known here. ..Dilierence in the pathology of the same diseases in this coun- 
tiy and in England. . .The English ones accompanied with more intiammatory action — the American of an 
asthenic or sinking character . .Pathological dittorences require a corresponding ditl'erence in therapeutics 
.. .English system of therapeutics objectionable for the above reason — on account of its expensiveness — 
and, for popular purposes, by the extent of its pharmacopim. . .The proper ovine veterinary system to be 
adopted— manner of classifying diseases — Anatomy of the t-hecp— how far to be studied — directions to be- 
ginners. ..The Omentum. ..Tlie Kumen. ..The Reiiculum. ..The Maniplus. ..The Abomasum. ..The func- 
tions of the ditt'erent Stomachs. ..The Duodenum. ..The Jejunum. . .The Ileum. ..The Coecum The 

Colon... The Rectum. ..The Mesentary. ..Tlie process of digestion. ..The Spleen... The Pancreas ... The 
Liver... The Kidneys. ..The Bladder... The Uterus and Vagina. 



Dear Sir: Most of the veterinary works which have appeared in this 
country in relation to the Sheep, Horse, and other domestic animals, have 
been made up simply of medical recipes ; or, if they have given systems 
of veterinary nosoloc^y and pathology, these systems have been mere tran- 
scnpts of those of European, and particularly of English writers. 

I have examined all, 1 believe, of the most celebrated late English au- 
thors, scientific and empirical,* on the diseases of the Sheep and their 
cures. For anatomical and general pathological details, the works of some 
of the former possess great value, and compare favorably with the treatises 
on the same topics by the most eminent physicians and surgeons. This is 
particularly true of the work on Sheep by the late Mr. Youatt — the fount- 
ain-head from which most of the later English writers on the same subject 
have so liberally drawn, and will probably continue so to do for a century 
to come. For minute accuracy of description, particularly in the depart- 
ment of pathology — for elaborate research into both facts and authorities 
— for clearness and sparkling vivacity of style, this gentleman, it seems to 
me, is entirely without a competitor among the English veterinarians, and 
his works will bear reading alongside those of a Cooper, a Louis, and a 
Chapman. 

I have hesitated whether to transcribe entire Mr. Youatt's treatise on 
the Anatomy of the Sheep. It would be the sheerest affectation — not to 
say plagiarism — to publish a mere abridgment of his remarks, or their sub- 
stance dressed up in other words, as some late English writers have done, 
for the purpose of setting up pretensions to that originality which Mr. You- 
att has left so little room for in this department. But as these Letters, Sir, 
are published for the benefit of the many, rather than to instruct those al- 
ready versed to any considerable extent in Veterinary Science, I have been 
led to doubt vthether am/ systematic treatise on Anatomy is necessary. On 
the whole, I have come to the conclusion that farther than to exhibit the 



* I do not use the word "empirical" here in its invidious sense. I mean to describe by it a class of 
writers versed in erperiments me.re.ly, as contradistinguished from those who possess a scientific knowledgo 
of physiology, pathology, therapeutics, &c. 



220 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

localities of disease, explain certain operations in the animal economy, and 
render terms intelligible, it would be time thrown away. 

In pathology somewhat, and to a much greater extent in the systems of 
therapeutics adopted, [ have found it necessary to cut clear from all Eng- 
lish ovine veterinarians. If this is regarded as presumptuous, I have only 
to say that the testimony or opinions of that man are worth little who so 
far pins his faith on another's views, as to disregard the plain evidence of 
his own senses. The salutary rule of the law is, each witness testifies to 
what he has seen, and to what, crediting the assertions of his own senses, 
Tie knows. It is for the investigating tribunal to decide what weight shall 
be attached to the testimony. That tribunal, in the present case, is the 
public. 

But in reality, a discrepancy of views on the above subjects, does not ne- 
cessarily imply an enor on either side. The pathology of diseases fre- 
quently does not coincide, as between different climates and countries, and 
sometimes, singularly enough, between contiguous localities in the same 
country. This is especially true as regards the origin or exciting cause 
of disease. Where the atmospheric, alimentary, and all other observable 
conditions are nearly identical, occult causes which baffle the closest and 
most scientific scrutiny, not unfrequently either periodically or regularly, 
scourge man or beast with disease in one locality, while another one is al- 
most uniformly exempt from these attacks. "What English pathologist, for 
example, has ever assigned a physical cause which would answer, quanti- 
tatively, as a criterion to decide on the proportionable prevalence of the 
same malady in other regions — or the existence of which would even prove 
that the disease existed at all — for the frequent appearance of goitre {bron- 
cAoceZe) among the inhabitants of Derbyshire, and the comparative exemp- 
tion from it of the inhabitants of contiguous counties 1* The theatres of 
its especial visitation, in other parts of the world, seem to be equally de- 
termined by chance — though undoubtedly dependent upon physical causes 
which have as yet eluded observation. 

It is not astonishing, therefore, that the ignorant down to our own times, 
and even the enlightened, until a period comparatively recent, should have 
sought the incomprehensible causes of many diseases, in the regions of the 
preternatural. Among brutes especially, which were supposed to be more 
given up to such influences, these phenomena were conveniently assigned, 
by our English and Scotch ancestors, to 

" some dev'lish cantrip slight" 

of " warlocks and witches" — the malevolence of an offended fairy or spite- 
ful gnome.t 

* I understand that the inhabitants of the ailjoining counties of Stafford, Nottingham and Leicester are 
comparatively exempt from the attaclc of goitre. 

t In Bums's inimitable Tarn O'Shanter, some of the singular powers once exercised 
" by withered beldams auld and droll 

Lowping and flinging on a crummock" — 
end sometimes, though far more rarely, by " ae winsome wench and walie," to turn aside the established 
laws of Nature and God's providence, are thus enumerated in describing one of the diabolical sisterhood : 
" Mony a beast to dead she shot, 
And periphed mony a bonny boat. 
And shook baith meikle corn and bear, 
And kept the country-side in fear." * 

No one will understand that the witch, in full league with the Devil, had any occasion for mortal fire- 
Mms, in "shooting"' the beasts of her victims. Murrain, and in some cases death, followed a glance of her 
" evi) eye." And even the witches of Burns are tame every-day bodies, compared with those which swell 
the infernal dramatis perxontB of Faust, or mingle in the gloomy horrors of Macbeth. 

Two centuries ago, and even less, there was not a parish in England, a hill or dell in Scotland, or even a 
colonized nook in the wild woods of America, where witchcraft was not rife ; and mvltitudes in every rank 
in life were consigned to the gallows, the faggot, strangling, <fcc., for this crime, by the highett judicial tri. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 221 

Equally unphilosophical, and not less mischievous in its effects on the 
progress of medical science, are those religious views, widely prevalent 
even at the present day, which in every epizootic as well as epidemic 
scourge, recognize only a direct Theocratic infliction, operating without 
the intervention of physical causes. If these doctrines do not, as when 
carried to their full extent among the Mussulmans — who yield a passive 
non-resistance to plague and conflagration as the direct expression of God's 
will — lead to an entire abandonment of remedial measures, they at least 
deter scrutiny into the inducing natural causes, and thus occasion a neglect 
of all freventive, and a much less perfect understanding of appropriate 
remedial action. 

Between countries widely separated — where their climates and other 
circumstances exhibit considerable differences — it would naturally be ex- 
pected that still greater discrepancies would appear in their local nosology. 
England and the United States are subject to several corresponding ovine 
diseases, yet it is notorious that some of the most destructive ones of the 
former are unknown, or next to unknown, in the latter. The rot, accord- 
ing to Mr. Youatt, destroys a million of sheep annually in the British Jsl- 

bunals of England and Scotland — the former presided over by such men as Sir Matthew Hale ! One ap- 
proved method of detecting witches was to wrap the suspected persons in a sheet, the great toes and thumbs 
being tied together, and then dragging them through a pond or river. If they sank they were guiltless— if 
not, thetr fate is thus alluded to by Hudibras in his description of the monster Hopkins, the '• Witch-tinder 
General" of England : 

" And has he not within a year 

Hanged threescore of them in one shire? 

^ome only for not being drowned .'" 
That miserable driveler and pedant, James VI. of Scotland, defended this " trial by wafer," inasmuch aa 
witches having renounced their baptism, so it is just Hint the element through which tlie holy rite is enforced, 
should reject tlienn '. This pusillanimous monarch, who shook at the sight ot a drawn sword, was the keenest 
instigator in his kingdom of tortures and prosecutions for suspected witchcraft, and he continued so after 
his accession to the English throne. He was often prtsnit at the examination of accused persons, and the 
Scotch juries did not dare to acquit their victims, fearing the severest punishment on themselves for " will- 
ful error upon an assize," a proceeding which left them at the mercy of the Crown, and which was in some 
instances actually resorted to ! 

The elves or fairies, the dwarfs, etc., have sorely afflicted the shepherd, as well as all other husbandmen, 
in bygone days. Their caprices were innumerable. Kven in this, as Mr. Carlyle would say, 19th century 
of God's world, the ugly and monster-headed Pliaam is sometimes seen on the lonely Kells of Galloway, 
and the declivities of the eastern Grampians. He not unl'requently shows himself in the dawn of the morn- 
ing on the mountains around Cairn Gorm and Loehavin. and if man or beast even goes near the place where 

he has been before the sun shines upon it. straightway their heads swell enormously and they often die. 

This is the origin of that frequent disease, the " swelled head " in sheep ! At least, so the inhabitants of 
those regions informed the Ettrick Shepherd. (See Hojig's Shepherd's Guide.) But alas ! for the gay and 
courtly Fairies— the very aristocracy of goblin-dom ! Who would not have his tlocks, yea. and his herds 
too. annually decimated to restore them to our utilitarianized world ! Oberon, Titania, Mab, Puck and Ariel 
are gone ! They no longer 

" on the sands with printless foot 

Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him 

When he comes back" 

no longer 

" in the spiced Indian air, by night, 

They dance their ringlets to the whistling wind." 

The elves of the colder regions north of the Alps, who erst danced their " roundel rites" on the banks of 
the Rhine and the green hillocks of Britain — who with their splendid appointments, coursers whose feet 
spurned the limber air, saddles of " rewel bone " 

" Bryht with mony a precious stone 
And compasyd all with erapste," 
outshone the splendors of Chivalry — who fought manful under shield, wounding and discomfiting even hu- 
man antagonists, as related by Gervase of Tilbury, and by Heinrich von Ofterdincen in the Heldenbuch 

who loved, wooed and were won much after the human fashion, and sometimes exchanged such favors 
with humanity, as is proved by the adventure of Thomas the Rymer under the " Elden tree" — all are gone! 
Tlie wands of .'*cott and of Bulwer could not stay their departure ! Nuked, rugged-featured, unpoetical 
Utility has it all her own way now-a-days ! 

In the language of Rt. Rev. Dr. Corbett, Bishop of Oxford and Norwich in the beginning of the 17th 
century, 

" Lament, lament, old abbeys, 
The Kairies' lost command ; 
They did but change priests' babies, 
But some have chanced your land ; 
And all your children sprung from hence 

Are now grown Puritans, 
Who live as changelings ever since 
For love of your domains." 



222 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ands — and iu 1830-1, the number swept off much exceeded two millions.* 
Its ravages are equally fatal in Germany, and more so in Egypt. It is 
also common in France, Spain, Australia, &c. There is nothing sufficient- 
ly marked in its diagnosis to effectually distinguish it from some other dis- 
eases, to a person possessing no previous practical acquaintance with it, 
or no more veterinary knowledge than is common among farmers ; and 
when a slow train of wasting symptoms have occurred, and the structure 
of the liver is found disorganized, after death, it is not uncommon in this 
country to pronounce it a case of the rot. The same mistake, according 
to Dr. Coventry (late Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edin- 
burgh), is often made by even the shepherds and flock-masters of Europe.t 
There are other diseases besides the rot which specifically attack the in- 
tegrity of the liver. Even fasciola or flukes in the liver, the most infalli- 
ble diagnostic, to the common eye, of the rot, also, according to Dr. Cov- 
entry, accompany hepatitis clirouica. I will not take upon me to deny that 
the rot ever exists in the Northern States, but I have yet to see, or hear 
of, adequately authenticated, the first undoubted instance ; and this would 
go to show that if isolated cases of it do sometimes occur, it has dwindled 
from the wholesale destroyer of Europe to an obscure and occasional dis- 
ease. The same remarks apply to existence of the disease in the Southern 
Atlantic and Gulf States, judging from the statements of my correspond- 
ents, and from the agricultural newspapers. I cannot learn from eithei' 
of these sources that anything analogous to this malady is common in those 
States. According to Mr. Cockerel, of Tennessee, and Mr. Flower, of Illi- 
nois, the rot does prevail in our Westei'n States ; and the latter gentleman, 
who has, I presume, seen the disease in Europe, and who ought therefore 
to be familiar with its ^>r«-mo/-^t'»i and post-mortem appearances, states 
that it occurs in Southern Illinois " from suffering sheep to pasture on land 
that is overflowed with water;" and he adds, "even a crop of gieen oats, 
early in ttie fall before a frost comes, has been known to rot young sheep." 

It is worthy of remark that Mr. Livingston — equally distinguished for 
research and observation — does not include the rot in his list of American 
ovine diseases. This aflmds a strong corroboration of the position I have 
assumed in relation to the existence of this disease in the North-eastern 
States, and those of the Southern ones lying east of the Apalachians.| 

The Hoof-ai], though introduced here by contagion, and kept in constant 
existence by the same means, does not appear, in the comnnm phrase, to 
originate spontaneously, as in Europe ; or, in other words, to be excited by 
any other causes than contagion. I have never known an instance going, 
eren coh)rab]y, to prove the contrary of this proposition. 

Acute dropsy or Red-water, 1 judge to be an exceedingly rare disease in 
the Northern States, though the author of the American Shepherd thinks 
differetilly.ll 

Entcreiis, or inflammation of the coats of the intestines; blain, or in- 
flamn}:ition of the cellular tissue of the tongue ; and a whole train of other 
di^eases — including most of the frightful list of infectious or contagious 
European epizootics — seem to be unknown in this country. 

MHiy there should be so wide a difference between the ovine nosology 
of Europe and the United States, is a matter of curious and interesting 
speculation. Whether it will always remain so, or whether the advent of 



* Yountt on Phepp, p. 445. 

f See remxika of Dr. Coventry, quoted at some length in Mountain Shepherd's Mnnual, p. 20. 

J 1 limit the reninrk to the StBtes lying (mostly) east of these moiintflins, because ihey would probably 
be the only oiiep, at the time at which Mr. Livingston wrote, with the Sheep Husbandry of which he would 
be supposed to be fnmiliBr. 

II American Shepherd, p. 359. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUT '. 223 

the European diseases is only delayed here for more artificial systems of 
feeding, breeding, or perhaps more artificial systems of Agriculture af- 
fecting the aliment of the sheep, or other and unexplainable causes, time 
alone must determine. 

If we look for these differences in the observable differences of climate, 
we find no satisfactory solution of the problem. The climate of England 
is essentially different from our own — but that it is a fav(»i-able one for the 
healthy development of all the animal tissues, her large, strong, long- 
lived population, as well as her well-developed animal kingdom, abun- 
dantly attest. The atmosphere of England is a moist and humid one, and 
moisture is thought to be one of the necessary predisposing causes of both 
rot and hoof-ail. Of the origin of the former disease, Mr. Youatt 
remarks : * 

" The rot in sheep is evidently connected with the soil or state of the pasture. It is con- 
fined to wet seasons, or to the feeding on ground moist and marshy at all seasons. It has 
reference to the evaporation of water, and to the presence and decuniposition of moist veget- 
able matter. It is rarely, or almost never, on dry and sandy soils and in dry seasons; it is 
rarely wanting on boggy or poachy ground, except when that ground is dried by the beat of 
the summer sun, or completely covered by the winter rain. In the same fann there are cer- 
tain fields on which no sheep can be turned with impunity. There are others that seldom 
or never give the rot." 

Mr. Youatt continues his descriptions of these predisposing conditions 
at great length, and his final conclusion is, in substance, that the miasmata, 
or gases exhaling from the decomposition of vegetable substances, are the 
causes of the rot. Mr. Spooner adopts the same views ; indeed, they are 
universally received among scientific veterinarians. 

If these views are correct, the evil lies not in a generally humid atmo- 
sphere, but in a generally or temporarily humid soil ; and that they are 
true quo ad hoc, is proved by the fearful ravages of the disease in the 
driest atmosphere of Germany, in the clear, dry atmosphere of the South 
of France, and under the torrid skies of southern Spain, where rain does 
not fall for months. 

Boggy or fenny soils, where decaying vegetable substances are con- 
stantly exhaling their gases, are to be found in all parts of the United 
States — more or less, in every township, and almost every school district 
of New-York and New-England. Sheep pasture on such lands, j)iomis- 
cuously with other stock, in every county — and, in the latter States, at 
least, with entire impunity from the rot. 

Humidity of soil is also supposed to he the most prominent cause in 
originating hoof-ail, or producing it otherwise than by contagion. Mr. 
Youatt and Professor Dick attribute the disease most often to the effect 
of sand and dirt forced into the pores of the hoof, when macerated by 
moisture. The following is the language of Professor Dick : 

" The finest and richest old pastures and lawns are particularly liable to give ibis disease, 
and so are soft, marshy and luxuriant meadows. It exists to a greater or less extent in every 
situation that has a tendency to increase the growth of the hoofs without weariiiL' tht-m 

away The different piU'ts of the hoof, deprived of their nalunil wear, prow out of 

their proper proportions. The crust, especially, grows too long ; niid the overgrown jiarts 
either break oflF in irregular rents, or by overshooting the sfile allow small ]>articles of sand 
and dirt to enter into the pores of the hoof. These particles soon reach the quick, and set 
up the infl.unniation already described and followed by all its destructive effects." t 

The same writer assigns another cause for it — inflammation induced by 
an improper bearing of the foot, caused by the unnatural growth of the horn 
on wet pastures. 

Mr. Spooner attributes the disease to decaying vegetables — " roots and 



Youatt on Sheep, p. 451. f See Dick, quoted by Youatt, p. 527, 528. 



224 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



leaves of the grasses in a state of rottenness " — brought in contact with the 
sheep's foot when " lilancliod and weakened by conliiiual moisture! "* 

There is another p«)int of difference in the pathology of ovine diseases 
in this and the old world, judging from tlie details furnished by the' Eng- 
lish veterinarians. Most of the ])yrcxiai diseases, in England, are accom- 
panied, at least in their initiatory stages, with active; inflammatory symp- 
toms. Fever runs higli, and decidedly aiitijililogistic treatment is called 
for. On the other hnnd, so far as my observation and inquiries have ex- 
tended, the ovine diseases of the United States are usually of an asthenic 
nature — characterized by debility from the outset. The difference in the 
physical character, leeding, and ordinary state of fatness of the sheep of 
the two countries, offers, p(;!rba]>s, a sufficient explanation of these facts. 
The gross, high-fed English sheep, forced forward by bf)unliful feeding to 
an uniuiturally precocious m;iturity, is always in a high state of ])lethora, 
and predisposed, therefore, to inflaniTuatory action. A slight derangement 
of any function, produced by a cold, by an error in feeding, or by any other 
causes, is sufficient to nudce the organs exercising those functions the seat of 
sucli action. On the other hand, the sheep of the United States, kept mainly 
for wool-growing purposes, is rarely raised abf)ve a moderately fleshy or 
medium condition. And, unexcited by an unnaturally plt!thoric habit, the 
weak vascular and muscular system of the animal little predisposes it to 
inffamtnatory disease. 

A difference in the pathological cliaracter of disease requires a corre- 
sponding diflerence in tiic system of therapeutics adopted. The English 
system of therapeutics is decidedly objectionable, here, Jirst, on the ac- 
count just named ; second!//, from its expensivcnicss ; and, fJ/inl///, (for 
jjo/mf.ar purposes,) by the extent and complexity of its pharmacology, ~ 

1. As has b(!eu already remarked, most of the English f)vine diseases 
commence with pyrexia^ — and the fever is synochal or inffamniatoTy in its 
type. The subject is strong, plethoric, and full of blood. Antiphlogistic 
treatment is clearly called for. Accordingly, depletion, by bleeding or 
purgatives, or both, is first and promptly resorted to by the English veteri- 
narian. In the United Slates, also, most inq^ortaiit constitutional diseases 
commence with pyrexiae, but the fever in its first discorcrcd statue is almost 
uniformly of a low, sinking, typhoid type, accompanied with great pros- 
tration of muscular enn-gy. The animal is in a leanish or only moder- 
ately fleshy condition. It has been confined to dry, and per1.a])s lather 
unnutritious food — for most of the list of constitutional maladies, here, 
make their attacks in the winter, and old, lean, and feeble sheep are usu- 
ally the first victims. A sheep is observed droojung, aiul indifferent to 
food. It is caught and examined. Whatever orjjan or portion of the sys- 
tem is laboring under attack, bleed so as to jiroduce a constituticmal im- 
pression, (which the English veteiinarians almost invariably recduimend, 
where they recommend bleeding at all,) and follow this with an active 
])urgative, and in four cases f)Ut of five the sheep will, in the ex]iressive 
phrase of the English shepherds, " take the ground"; it will never rise 
from ill:- ground more without assistance, and v.ill soon become unable to 
stand when set upon its feet. Gi'owii'g weaker and weaker, it soon re- 
fusis to eat, and death supervenes. These remaiks are not designed to 
apply to stall-fed wethers, or other very liigli-conditioned sheep. 

2. The Rnglish, and indeed the European method of treating diseases 
is too r.rp'i/s/re foi- this country. Tn curiufj hoof-ail, f.f., Mr. Yonntt, after 
recommending washing in chloride of lime, and cauferiy.ing, says : 

* This secma to mc a most unphilosopliicul ctiusc lo be nssigjicd lij' a vrtirinminn of ihc etwuliiig of Mr. 
Spooner. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 225 

" If the foot has been in a manner stripped of its horn, and especially if a considerable por- 
tion of the sole has been removed, it may be expedient to wrap a little clean tow round 
the foot, and to bind it tiplitiy down with a tape, the sheep being removed to a straw-yard, 

or some inclosed space, or to a drier i)asture The foot should be dressed every day, 

each new separation of horn removed, and every portion of the fungus submitted to the 
caustic." * 

Mr. Spooner recommends daily, and not less troublesome treatment.t 
The Mountain Shepherd's Manual recommends daily treatment,^ and this 
is the case, I V^elieve, with nearly all, if not all, of the foreign vc;;erinaiians. 
Professor Pictet, of Switzerland, in addition to daily applications, fumiga- 
tions, etc., innumerable, goes a ste]) beyond " tow pledgets and tape band- 
ages." He says : 

" In order to prevent any dirt, &c., from getting into the wound, the diseased foot should 
be placed in a little ljo(jt, the sole of which is of leather or lielt, and the upper part of cloth, 
in order to fasten it round the leg of the sheep." 

This disease rages most when haying and harvesting are at their bight, 
in the Northern States — in July and August — and when the labor of day 
hands costs from seVenty-five cents to a dollar per head per diem. Half 
the flocks in the country can then be bought for Si 2.5 j)er head. How 
soon daily parings, cauterizings, embrocations, fumigations, etc., including 
the expense of drugs and Professor Pictet's gaiter-hoots, would reach an 
expense equivalent to the price of a sound sheep, it rerpiires not the exer- 
cise of much arithmetic to determine ! It would certainly be more eco- 
nomical to kill sheep of any ordinary grade in the first instance ! 

The same remark will apply to the English system of treating nearly 
all important diseases. The labor bestowed on it would be worth more, 
here, than the value of the sheep. 

3. The English ovine veterinary pharmacopaeia is too extensive and 
complex for popular use. The prescribed formulae are so compound in 
their character — so minute oftentimes in their quantitative proportions — re- 
quire so much skill for their chemical and mechanical admixttire — and, 
lastly, and more important than all the rest, they demand so much med- 
ical knowledge for their proper and timely administration — that they can 
be generally used with safety and advantage only by professional veteri- 
narians, a class entirely wanting, unless occasionally in cities, in the United 
States. Besides, our ordinary country drug-stores are usually lacking in 
many of the articles included in the European prescriptions! | — and no one, 
without possessing considerable medical knowledge, could decide what 
effect it would have on the prescription to subtract this or that ingredient. 
It might neutralize its effects, or even render it peiTiicious. 

A veterinary system for anything Wke popular use, in this country, must 
be exceedingly simple in its remedies, and in its rules for their administra- 
tion. As it is impossible to describe the various symptoms which may 
exhibit themselves in a disease, so as to be understood by all, it is unsafe 
•to prescribe a constant change of medicines, applicable to the several 
states which have caused those symptoms to appear. Indeed, changes in 
medicine should only be made consequent on those distinct crises of dis- 
ease which can be detected and understood by the most ordinary observer. 
Prescriptions, therefore, inapplicable, or at least unsafe, in any stage ^ow 
one distinct crisis of disease to another, should, as far as practicable, be 
avoided. True, such a system of therapeutics will be very imperfect, par- 
ticularly in the treatment of serious constitutional maladies. But it will go 

• Vouatt, p. 529. t Spooner, (endorBing the views of Mr. Read,) p. 438 to 442. 

t tiHi-m vide, p. 27. 

II Not unfrequently the molt important ones, as I know from repeated experience. 

2F 



226 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

as far as the knowledge of the uninsti-ucted practitioner will safely admit 
of — and if, even in cases of constitutional disease, it should simply cause 
him to do no hurt hy his mterfcrence, and prevent him from resorting to 
some miserably ignorant empiric* — the most imfortant object, perhaps, 
would be attained. It is infinitely safer in such diseases to rely on unaided 
Nature to effect the cure, than to submit a sheep, or any other animal, to 
the drugging and dosing of a person ignorant of the true nature of the 
disease, and of the remedies which he employs. It is better to do too lit- 
tle than to do too much ; and in all cases where it is not known what to do, 
it is better to do nothing. 

Lord Western, in a letter to Mr. Bischoff, says :t 

" I have little to say on the medical treatment of sheep ; my study is prevention by suffi- 
cient wholesome food, with a constant and abundant supply of salt in every yard and every 

field When sheep are taken ill, there is little hope for them, and rai'ely any use ia 

administering medicines." 

If the latter portion of this remark is true among the educated, intelli- 
gent and experienced veterinarians of England, how much more must it 
be so among those destitute of even the first rudiments of veterinary sci- 
ence ! In relation to some of the more serious constitutional maladies, af- 
ter considerable experience and observation, I feel constrained to express 
the opinion that the remark is, to a considerable extent, true. The sheep 
is almost as unsatisfactory a patient to deal with, in some such cases, 
as the hog, of which it is frequently said, with no great exaggei-ation, 
" that if he is seriously sick he is sure to die, and the more you do 
for him the sooner he will die ! " " Then why give a therapeutic system 
at all in a class of diseases where it will do so little good '? " In the first 
place, the cases are perhaps few where judicious prescriptions will not 
someichat diminish the tendency to a fatal result ; but the great reason, 
after all, is, that every man having a sick animal %cill dose and physic it, 
or tcill permit some officious neighbor to do so, or will call in that most 
dangerous of all epizootics, the cattle-doctor. It is therefore better in the 
most hopeless cases, to give a few simple directions, based on sound med- 
ical principles, which will not, at all events, aggravate the disease, and 
which will tend to alleviate or suppress it, rather than to surrender the 
heljiless animal over to the additional tortures inflicted by ignorance and 
quackery. Fortunate it is that well-managed sheep, in this country, are 
so little subject to such diseases ! 

In classifying diseases, I shall depart from the system adopted by You- 
att, Spooner, etc., who arrange them with reference to the parts of the sys- 
tem they more especially attack, as, for example, " diseases of the brain," 

* The selfmstriculated " cattle doctor '" is a decidedly interesting personnge. His qualifications are nu- 
merous, and it is somewhat difficult to find them all brilliantly combined in the same person. He should 
be the most ignorant man in the town, particularly in everything relating to the anatomy and physiology 
of man or beaft. lie should be equally iiinorant of the chemical and medicinal properties of nearly all the 
drucs used by him. His prescriptions, to give them due potency, should consist of a great number of in- 
gredients — a iHrge porlion of them bearing very "hard vamts." He should flank and fortify these, at least 
in all difficult cases, with substances possessing rare occult virtues, entirely unknown to "human physi- 
cians," such as the '• blood of black cats," the " entrails of fowls," " human fceces," simples culled under pe- 
culiar circumstances — 

"Root of hemlock, digged i' the dark, 

* * * slips of yew, 

Slivered in the moon's eclipse." 

He should decidedly affect the mysterious, and should always repel the attempted intrusions of ordinary 
humanity-the profane vulsar— into the arcana of his hiirh art. He should have half a dozen maladies, such 
as"baked inthe manyfolds," " overflow of the gall," "kidney disease." "rising of the lights," ■' strained 
across the loin." etc., to which he can promptly assign all the ills which beasts are heir to. He should 
never mistake a di.=ease or a remedy. If the patient dies, it should invariably be in consequence of a 
deviation from his directions I 
t Bischoff, vol. ii. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 227 

" diseases of the digestive organs," &c. This method of classification, 
though not without its advantages, and though it would seem, at first view, 
to present an arrangement most convenient for reference, examination and 
comparison, in the end, leads, I think, to confusion and misunderstanding. 



ANATOMY OF THE SHEEP. 

He who breeds sheep to any considerable extent, should make himself 
familiar with the anatomical structure of some of the parts of the animal — 
particularly with the arrangement, size, natural appearance, consistency 
and contents of the several viscera ; to some extent with the circulatory 
system ; with the alimentary and respiratory organs ; with the brain, and 
the whole osseous structure of the head. He should be in the constant 
habit of making more or less extended examinations of all these structures, 
as opportunity occurs by the slaughter of sheep for economic purposes ; 
and when the animal dies from disease, such examination should be in no 
ordinary case omitted by the flock-master who is desirous of making him- 
self thorovgJdy acquainted loith his business. He will require some instruc- 
tion, in the outset, to enable him to make such dissections understandingly 
and properly ; but he can readily obtain this from any educated physician 
or surgeon. There are no sufficiently wide differences in the anatomical 
structui'e of the sheep and of the human being, to give the surgeon the 
least difficulty in pointing out the arrangement, uses, &c., of the several 
parts of the former, unless it be in the conformation of the stomachs. — 
Here, the structure of the sheep, like that of other ruminating animals, dif- 
fers widely from man, but that physician or surgeon must have been singu- 
larly limited in his physiological investigations, who has not made himself 
acquainted with it. At all events, a glance at a veterinary work, while 
conducting a dissection, will enable him to understand, and explain it to 
the learnei". The learner while making his examinations in company with, 
and under the direction of the surgeon, should ^er/o?7» every manipulation : 
his own hand should handle, remove, test the consistency, &c. of the parts 
— alone wield the saw and guide the scalpel. This is an important rule if 
he would understand and remember. 

The subjects of a portion of the examinations should be sheep killed in 
full health. It is necessary to be familiar with the healthy appearance of 
all the parts, so as to distinctly recognize all departures from it — the effect 
of any diseased or abnormal action. 

The sides of a lean sheep are moi'e translucent, after being skinned, than 
those of a fat one, and therefore the former makes a better subject, if the 
circulatory system is to be examined. On the sides of the thorax and ab- 
domen, at a little distance from the spine, the veins and arteries of those 
parts can often be traced with beautiful distinctness, without any dissection 
of the intercostal muscles. 

Subjects should be examined which have had their blood drawn (by hav- 
ing their throats cut), and also those which have died with all their blood 
in them. Some of the viscera — e. g. the lungs, veins and arteries — will 
present very different appearances under these different circumstances ; 
and this fact not understood might frequently lead to very erroneous con- 
clusions in post mortem examinations. 

I will give a very general description of the parts I have mentioned aa 
necessary to be studied — designed merely for those who have no previous 
knowledge of the subject. 

After the animal has been neatly skinned, place it on a low table, an as- 
sistant giasping its fore-legs, and holding it firmly on its back. Then slit 



228 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



open the belly from the middle of the sternum, or cartilaginous connection 
between the ribs, to the anus. In making this and all similar incisions, 
hold the edge of the knife upward, guarding its point with the fore-finger, 
BO that the viscera shall not be wounded. The abdomen — the whole cav- 
ity of the trunk back of the diaphragm or " midriff" — is now laid open. 
It is usually necessary for a better examination of the parts to make cross 
incisions part way between the diaphragm and anus, extending down on 
each side several inches toward the backbone. 

I shall describe the viscera in the order in which I have usually exam- 
ined them. 

On opening the abdomen the omentum or caul is found covering the in- 
testines. It is a thin, and, in a normal state, colorless and transparent 
structure, formed of two membranes, between which extend streaks of fat 
in the form of a net. 

The external appearance of the stomachs is given in the following cut 
of those of a young sheep which died of disease. Their arrangement is 
slightly different in the animal. 



Fig. 47. 




THE STOMACHS. 

o. The cesophagus or gullet, entering the rumen or paunch. 

h. b. The rumen, or paunch, occupying three-fourtha of the abdomen. 

c. The reticulum, or honey-comb — the 2d etomach. 

d. The maniplus, or many folds— the 3d stomach. 

e. The abomasum, or 4th stomach. 

/. The commencement of the duodenum or first intestine. 

g. The place of the pylorus, a valve which separates the contents of the abomasum and duodenum. 

The walls of the rumen or paunch consist of four coats or tunics — 1st, 
the peritoneal or outer coat ; 2d, the muscular ; 3d, the mucous, covered 
with papillae, or little protuberances, from which (or glands under which) 
is secreted a peculiar fluid to soften and prepare the food for re-mastica- 
tion ; and, 4th, the inner or cuticular coat, a thin, entirely insensible mem- 
brane, which defends the mucous coat from abrasion or erosion. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 229 

The reticulum or honey-comb is composed of the same number of coats, 
fulfilling similar functions. But the mucous coat, in addition to minute 
papillae, is covered with elevations arranged in pentagons and sexagons 
of different sizes, somewhat resembling a honey-comb, except that the 
cells are larger and shallower. 

The maniplus has the same four coats. Its jloor is a continuation of 
the oesophagean canal. From its roof depend many parallel folds of the 
cuticular coat — here thicker and stronger than in the other stomachs — 
reaching nearly to its floor. The cuticle is covered toward the edges of 
the folds, with hard, bony processes, shaped like fangs, or cones bent in a 
curvelinear form, and pointing toward the entrance of the stomach. The 
interior of each fold or leaf contains muscles which impart to it the power 
of a peculiar and forcible motion. There are forty-two of these folds in 
the maniplus of the sheep — occasionally forty-eight. They do not all 
equally nearly approach the oesophagean canal, but are disposed in groups 
of six — one of the central ones of each nearly reaching the canal or floor 
of the stomach — the others on each side growing shorter and shorter, so 
as to form a series of irregular reentering angles. 

The abomasum is the digesting stomach, where the gastric juices are 
secreted, and where the pultaceous food is converted into chyme. It is 
funnel-shaped, and its lower extremity connects with the intestines, as 
shown in the cut. The cuticular lining of the three preceding stomachs 
is wanting in this. The mucous coat is disposed in the form of mgoe or 
shallow folds, arranged longitudinally with the direction of the stomach, 
and from this membrane the gastric juices are secreted. 

The comparative size of the four stomachs will be sufficiently seen in 
fig. 47. 

Where the oesophagus enters the rumen, it terminates in what is called 
the oesophagean canal, a continuation of the former constituting the roof 
of the latter. The bottom or floor of this canal is formed of divided por- 
tions or folds of the upper parts of the rumen and reticulum — muscular 
"pillars" or "lips," as they are sometimes denominated — which may re- 
main closed so that the food wdll pass over them into the third and fourth 
stomachs — or they may open, permitting the food to fall between them, 
as through a trap-door, into the first and second stomachs. It is probable 
that the opening of these lips, as food passes over them, depends some- 
what upon a mechanical effect, and somewhat upon the will of the animal. 
Fluid and soft pultaceous food fit for immediate digestion glide over them. 
But most of the food of the sheep, like that of other ruminating animals, 
is swallowed with little preparatory mastication ; and these untriturated 
solids drop down through the first opening above described into the ru- 
men. It is certain, however, that the animal can, at will, also cause water 
to pass through the opening into the fii'st stomach. This would be neces- 
saiy in the animal economy, and the water is always found there. 

When the food has entered the rumen, the muscular action of that vis- 
cus compels it to make the circuit of its different compartments, and, in 
time, the food later swallowed forces it on and up to near the opening 
where it originally entered. In its passage it is macerated by a solvent 
alkaline fluid secreted by the mucous coat. The papillae of that coat are 
supposed to influence the mechanical action of the contents of the stomach, 
and perhaps, to a certain extent, to aid in triturating them. The food 
perfonns the circuit of the stomach, and is ready for re-mastication, ac- 
cording to Spallanzani, in from sixteen to eighteen hours. By a muscular 
effbrt of the stomach, a portion of it is then thrown over the membraneous 
valve or fold which guards the opening from this into the second stomach. 



230 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The reticulum contracts upon it, forming it into a suitable pellet to be re- 
turned to the mouth, and also covers it with a mucus secreted in this 
stomach. By a spasmodic effort (always perceptible externally when the 
sheep or cow commences rumination) the pellet is forced through the roof 
of the reticulum, by the opening before described, and returned to the 
mouth by the contractions of the spiral muscle of the cesophagus or gullet, 
for mastication. 

This explanation of the functions of the second stomach is not accepted 
by all the physiologists who have examined this subject. Some contend 
that all the solider portions of the food are returned directly from the ru- 
men for re-mastication ; that when raised to the floor of the cesophagean 
canal, the hard parts are carried up to the mouth — the more pultaceous 
ones (but still not sufficiently pultaceous for the fourth stomach) passing 
into the reticulum, where they are again macerated — the fluid squeezed 
out of them by a contraction of the stomach and allowed to pass on to 
the fourth stomach — and then the drier parts raised, like those from the 
paunch, for re-mastication. More solid and indigestible substances " may 
be submitted two or more times to the process of rumination." Such ap- 
pear to be the views of Mr. Spooner.* 

According to this theory, both stomachs are created substantially for 
one and the same purpose, and one would seem to be unnecessary. And 
where would be the use of the opening from one stomach into the other ? 
And if the second stomach, like the first, is simply for the maceration and 
return of food, why the superior thickness and sti'ength of the coatings of 
the former 1 Being of a volume greatly inferior to that of the latter, it cer- 
tainly would require less strength, if the functions of both were the same. 

The main support for this, as it seems to me, erroneous theory, is found 
in the fact that the contents of the reticulum, after death, are usually found 
considerably more finiA than those of the rumen. I conceive that but 
small portions of solid food are introduced at one time from the rumen 
into the reticulum — not enough to give to the liquid contents of the latter 
viscus the consistency of those of the former — proceeding on the supposi- 
tion that the reticulum of the living animal is filled with fluid, as usually 
found after death. But why may not a portion of this fluid have escaped 
by the valve — been decanted, as it were, from the paunch to the reticulum, 
Cifter death 1 I see no violence in this supposition. If this is not so, the 
unifortn fluidity of the contents of the reticulum would be, it seems to me, 
fatal to the theory based on it — for, according to Spooner and others who 
adopt it, after the reticulum has " become moderately full," it contracts on 
its contents, expressing the liquid from the solid parts, which said liquid 
is forced into the cesophagean canal, and escapes into the fourth stomach. 
The solid parts would be thus left comparatively dry. Sheep penned up for 
butchery often do, as every one has observed, ruminate until within a few 
seconds of the time that all their natural visceral functions are suddenly 
suspended by death — and when, therefore, this suspension would, at times, 
as a matter of course, take place at all the different stages of rumination and 
preparation for rumination — how happens it that the reticulum is not often 
found with its liquid parts expressed — containing nothing but the solids, just 
prepared for re-mastication % Or if it be supposed that the act of forcing out 
the liquid, and forcing up the solids into the oesophagus, are coincident or 
simultaneous, why is not this stomach some^mc* found entirely emq^ty 1 Can 
it be supposed that this fluid (I have uniforvily found the fluid mixed with 
considerable quantities of the solid food) is so instantaneously re-supplied ? 

* Spooner, p. 163-3. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 231 

If SO, by what process 1 I think there are other reasons which support 
the view I have taken, but I will not push the discussion, there not being, 
so far as I am aware, any questions to be solved by it which directly and 
practically affect the interests or the practices of the sheep-breeder. 

Let us now observe the course pursued by the food, and the process to 
which it is submitted, after rumination. It now glides over the trap-doors 
which open into the first and second stomachs. As it passes over the 
floor of the third, or the maniplus, the pendant leaves of this viscus, armed 
with their beak-like pi'otuberances, seize the advancing mass, and squeezing 
out the fluid and the more finely comminuted portions of the food which 
escape with it, commence triturating the bulkier fibrous portions between 
their folds. Their bony papillae give to these folds something of the me- 
chanical action of rasps, in grinding down the vegetable fibre. The food 
being now reduced to an entirely pultaceous state, passes into the fourth 
stomach, or abomasum, where it is acted upon by the gastric juice, and 
converted into chyme. The amount of food found between the folds of 
the maniplus, after death, depends upon the time that has elapsed since 
rumination. It is dry and hard, comj^ared with the contents of the other 
stomachs. 

The entrance to the fourth stomach — the cardiac opening — is closed 
against regurgitation or vomiting, by a sort of valve, composed of a portion 
of one of the rugcs, before alluded to, which line the interior of this 
stomach. The pylorus is also closed by a valve, which prevents a prema- 
ture passage of the contents of the stomach into the intestines. 

The intestines are exhibited in fig. 48, copied from Mr. Youatt's work. 

Before the duodenum entei's into (or changes its name to) the jejunum, 
and about 18 inches from the pylorus, it is perforated by the biliary duct — 
ductus choledochus — which brings the bile eliminated by the liver, from the 
gall-bladder, and also the fluid which is secreted by the pancreas, or sweet- 
bread, which last is introduced into the biliary duct two inches from its 
entrance into the duodenum, by another duct or small tube. The com- 
pound fluid thus introduced into the duodenum exercises various important 
offices in the digestive and assimilating processes. The bile is supposed 
to aid in the separation of the chyme into chyle and fecal mattei" — or the 
nutritive parts of the food which are assimilated into blood, from the in- 
nutritious parts which are discharged as excrement. It also prevents a 
putrid decomposition of the vegetable contents of the intestines, and serves 
various other useful purposes. 

The chyle — a white albuminous fluid, with a composition differing but 
little from that of blood — is taken from the intestines by a multitude of 
minute ducts called lacteals, which traverse the mesentary, constantly 
uniting as they advance, so as to form larger ducts. These enter the 
mesenteric glands — small glandular bodies attached to the mesentary — after 
the passage of which the chyle begins to change its color. The lacteals 
still continue to unite and enlarge, and finally terminate in the thoracic 
duct. In this the chyle is mingled with the lymph secreted from a portion 
of the lymphatics — another exceedingly minute system of absorbent ducts, 
which open on the internal and external surfaces of the whole system. 
From the thoracic duct, the chyle is conveyed to the heart, and enters into 
the circulation as blood. 



The Spleen. — With the appearance of the spleen or milt — in the sneep 
a dark, firm, spongy viscus, attached to the rumen, and lying on the left 
side of the belly — all are sufficiently familiar. Its uses and functions in 



232 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



the animal economy are not well understood, and it has in some instances 
been removed from the living animal w^ithout the apparent derangement 

Fig. 48. 




THE INTESTINES AND MESENTARY. 

1. The duodenum. 2. The jejunum. 3. The ileum. 

4. The coecum, being the anterior prolongation of the colon, or first large intestine. The ileum openg 
into this (on the back side as presented in the cut), about twelve inches from its extremity — the 
opening being defended by a valve. 

5 The large anterior portion of the colon, retaining its size (about three times that of the smaller intes- 
tines) for about two feet. 

6.6. Tbe colon tending toward the center. 

7.7. The returning convolutions of the colon. 

8. The rectum or straight gut, communicating with the anus. 
9. 9. The mesentary, or that portion of the peritoneum which retains the intestines in their places, 
in. The portion of the mesentary supporting the colon, &c. 
The united length of these intestines is upward of sixty feet ! 

of any function. Mr. Youatt conjectures that its main office is to supply 
the coloring matter of the blood. 

The Pancreas. — The pancreas or sweet-bread, with the appearance of 
which all who have noticed the entrails of a sheep, are also familiar, is a 
glandular body found on the left side of the belly. It has a series of 
ducts which unite into a larger one, and, as before stated, this discharges 
a transparent, albuminous, and somewhat acid fluid into the biliary duct 
near the point where it enters the duodenum. This fluid acts some un- 
known, but probably necessary part in preparing the chyme for the offices 
it is to perform in the animal economy. 

The Liver. — The liver is much larger in proportion, in the sheep, than 
in the horse and ox ; and it is twice the proportionate size of that of Man. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 233 

It is situated mostly on the right side, between the maniplus and dia- 
phragm. It is suppUed with arterial blood, and receives the venous blood 
which is conveyed from the intestines, from which it separates the bile, 
and conveys it to the gall-bladder. The bile having undergone certain 
changes in this bladder, is conveyed, as already stated, by the biliary duct, 
to the duodenum. The venous blood, after the gall is separated from it, 
is returned to the lungs, to undergo the process which fits it again to en- 
ter into the circulation. 

THE URINARY AND GENERATIVE ORGANS. 

Though it might seem the more natural order to complete the examina- 
tion of the circulatory and respiratory organs, before taking up those 
named at the head of this paragraph, I shall, adhering to my first arrange- 
ment to follow the order which I have uniformly pursued in making dis- 
sections, first complete the description of those of the abdominal cavity. 

The Kidneys. — The kidneys are two bean-shaped glands firmly attached 
to the roof of the abdomen, and usually imbedded in fat. They are sup- 
plied with blood by large arteries, and, having filtered out the urine from 
it, they discharge the latter through two ducts, termed ureters, into the 
bladder. The passage of these ducts through the walls of the latter is in 
an oblique course, so that it is closed by pressure from within, and thus 
the urine cannot return. 

The Bladder. — The bladder joins the urethra, in the pelvis, and its pos- 
terior part is attached to the floor of that cavity. The anterior part, where 
the diameter is larger, floats free in the abdomen. A circular muscle or 
sphincter closes the entrance into the ui'ethra, to prevent the continuous 
escape of the urine, and this relaxes when the muscular coat of the bladder 
contracts for the pei'iodical expulsion of that fluid. The urethra is but a 
few inches long in the ewe, and opens into the vagina. It is much longer 
in the ram, as it extends the whole length of the penis. 

The Uterus and Vagina. — The vagina is several inches in length and 
opens into the uterus or womb by a circular opening which becomes closed 
after impregnation. They are situated between the rectum above, and the 
bladder below. They are mostly within the pelvis in the unpregnant ani- 
mal, but the womb rises into the abdomen when it encloses a foetus. The 
womb is a cylindrical body with two " horns " or branches. At the interior 
extremity of each horn are protuberances, of a red color, called ovaries, 
which are supposed to contain the germs of the offspring. 



2G 



234 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER XV. 

ANATOMY OP THE SHEEP (Continued)— DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 

The Thoracic Viscera... The Diaphragm... The Thorax... The Heart, Arteries, Capillaries, and Veins... 
The Lungs. .-The Windpipe, Larj-nx and Pharynx... The Thyroid and Parotid Glands. ..The Head and 
its structures... The Brain. ..The Nerves. ..The Teeth. ..The Lower Extremities. ..The Biflex Canal. .. 
Febrile diseases — those of Europe which are not common here. ..Ophthalmia— popular remedies — proper 
treatment... Pneumonia — symptoms — Mr. Spooner's prescription for. . .Bronchitis— symptoms — treatment 
...Catarrh — ordinarily not dangerous — preventives. . .Malipnant Epizootic Catarrh — prevalence in the 
Northern States— cliaracter of the disease has not been understood — prevalence in author's Hock— how 
produced— symptoms — post-mortem appearances— character of the disease ascertained— Nosology — 
treatment, &c. ..The Rot — its diagnosis — post-moitem appearances — description of the Fluke — causes of 
the Rot — treatment. . .Diarrhea — cause — diagnosis — treatment. . . Dysentery — cause — difference between 
it and diarrhea — treatment.. .Garget — seat and origin of the disease — treatment.. .Nervous Diseases... 
Apoplexy— unrecognized cases of it — several cases detailed— symptoms— treatment.. .Phrenitis. ..Tet- 
anus.. .Epilepsy. .. Rabies.. .Neither of them common in this country... Paralysis — symptoms — treat- 
ment... Colic — symptoms — atti-ibuted to intussusception— true cause— treatment. 

THE THORACIC VISCERA. 

Among these, for convenience, I will include the diaphragm. 

The Diaphragm. — The diaphragm or midriff is a muscle extending en- 
tirely across the inner cavity of the body, separating the abdomen from 
the thorax or chest. Its structure is unique, and beautifully adapted to the 
functions it has to perform. Its outer margin is muscular, giving it the ne- 
cessary power of contraction, while toward the middle it changes into a 
transparent tendonous substance. Through this tendonous substance pass 
the oesophagus, the aorta, and the vena cava. 

If the parts of the diaphragm which immediately surround these vessels 
liad been muscular, every contraction of the former in the act of respira- 
tion, would have compressed the latter, and therefore interfered with the 
passage of the food to the stomach, and the circulation of the blood. In a 
state of rest the diaphragm is convex toward the thorax. When contract- 
,ed and flattened, therefore, it enlarges the cavity of the thorax, and air 
rushes into the lungs. Its alternate contractions and relaxations mainly 
produce the act of respiration or breathing. 

The Thorax. — Without injuring the diaphragm, divide the sternum and 
brisket of the sheep longitudinally through the center, with a fine saw, and 
on pulling the lower extremity of the ribs slightly apart, the thorax will be 
disclosed in its natural arrangement. It consists of three cavities, formed by 
the doublings of the pleura, a thin serous membrane, which lines the whole 
interior of the chest. Two outer and larger cavities (the right one being 
the largest), contain the lungs — a third and smaller one, lying between the 
posterior portions of the former, contains the heart. The oesophagus pass- 
es through the upper portion of the thorax, over the lungs and heart, and 
between them and the spine, to the lower portion of the neck. 

The Heart, Arteries, Capillaries, and Veins. — With the size and 
general appearance of the heart, all are familiar. Enclosed in a mem- 
braneous sac — the i^ericardmm — it hangs suspended by its superior attach- 
ments to the roof of the thorax, its lower extremity nearly reaching to its 
iloor, and pointing toward the left side. The heart has two cavities on 
€ach side, termed auricles and ventricles. The chyle and venous blood are 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 235 

discharged into the right auricle, and thence into the right ventricle. By 
the contraction of the latter, its contents are forced through the pulmona- 
ry artery into the lungs. The blood having been purified in the lungs, is 
returned to the left auricle ; thence into the left ventricle ; and it is then 
forced into the aorta, or large artery which supplies, by its different 
branches, all parts of the system with blood. Each compartment of the 
heart is furnished with appropriate valves to cause the blood to be forced 
forioard, in its regular course, by the muscular contractions of this viscus. 
These contractions are the result of an inherent and independent power. 

The contractions of the heart force the blood into and along the arteries. 
When this force begins to be spent as the distance from the heart in- 
creases, it receives aid from the action of the muscular coat of the arteries 
themselves, which forces along the blood to their utmost extremities. 

The arteries continue to branch off into more and more minute divisions 
as they i-ecede from the heart, until the tubes are much less in diameter 
than the finest hair. These, capillaries as they are called, open by exceed- 
ingly minute mouths in every part of the frame, for the deposition of those 
secretions from the blood which maintain the vitality and healthy action 
of the parts, supply the animal waste, &c. 

The capillai'ies, commencing their return toward the heart, constantly 
reunite, forming larger tubes which are called veins, which bring back 
such portions of the blood carried out by the arteries, as has not been ex- 
pended in nourishing the system. The blood now deprived of its oxygen, 
and loaded with carbon, is unfit for farther circulation until re-purified in 
the lungs. It is of a darker color than the arterial blood. It is no longer 
urged on by the contractile power of the tubes through which it flows, but 
by the partial vacuum formed in the right auricle (as at each contraction 
it forces its contents into the right ventricle,) and by atmospheric 
pressure. 

The Lungs. — The lungs are bodies composed of separate minute air- 
cells, communicating with the hroncMal tubes, or subdivisions of the wind- 
pipe. They also contain many arteries, and veins. On the delicate mem- 
braneous walls of the air-cells the venous blood is carried by innumerable 
tubes so thin as to permit their contents to be acted upon by the atmos- 
pheric air which fills the cells at every inspiration. Here the blood gives 
oflfits carbon, and receives oxygen from the air, and thus is prepared for 
its return to the heart, and to be again sent through the system. 

The right lung is somewhat larger than the left, and both fill their re- 
spective cavities when inflated. They are entirely free from any attach- 
ment to the pleura — the membrane which lines the ribs — when in their 
natural state. When the animal has been bled to death, the lungs are of 
a light color ; but if the animal has died with all its blood in it, their color 
resembles that of the liver. This can, however, be readily distinguished 
from hepatization — the result of certain diseases — as will be hereafter 
shown. 

The Windpipe, Larynx, Pharynx, &c. — The bronchial tubes constant- 
ly uniting as they approach the anterior poition or root of each lung, final- 
ly form a single large tube, as they make their exit from each lobe, and 
these, uniting into one, form the windpipe. This is a well known cartila- 
ginous tube which passes out of the chest between the first two ribs, and 
ascends on the front part of the neck. It unites with the larynx, which 
continues the air passage from the lungs to the mouth. The oesophagus 
leaves the chest close beside the windpipe, and ascends the neck on the 



236 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



left side of the latter. It communicates with the pharynx, which commu- 
■cates with the mouth. The food on being swallowed enters the pharynx 
or food bag, which is directly above the larynx — so that the food traverses 
the entrance to the latter. It is deterred from entering the windpipe by 
the epiglottis, a triangular lid or valve which piojects upward from the 
floor of the passage, and which closes upon and covers the glottis, or en- 
trance into the windpipe, when any substance more dense than air comes 
in contact with it in its downward passage. 

The Thyroid and Parotid Glands. — The Thyroid glands are located 
on each side of the trachea. The parotid glands are situated immediately 
below the ear, behind the angle of the lower jaw. There are certain 
other glands situated beneath the lower jaw, not necessary here to be re- 
ferred to. 



THE HEAD AND ITS CONTENTS. 

Fig. 49. 
4 




BONES OF THE HEAD. 



4.4. 
5. 



The nasal bone. 

The upper jaw bone. 

The intermaxillary bone, which supports the 

pad which supplies the place of upper front 

teeth. 
The frontal sinus. 
Cavity or sinus of the horn, communicating 

with the frontal sinus. It is here shown by 

the removal of a section of the base of the 

horn. 
The parietal bone. 
The frontal bone. 



8. Vertical section of the brain. 



9. Vertical section of the cerebellum. 

a. The cineritious portion of the brain. 
6. The medullary portion. 

10. The ethmoid bone. 

11. The cribriform or perforated plate of the ethmoid 

bone. " It separates the nasal cavity from the 
brain ; it is thin almost as a wafer, and pierced 
by numerous holes, through which the olfacto- 
ry nerve penetrates, in order to spread itself 
over the inner part of the nose." 

12. The lower cell of the ethmoid bone. 

13. The superior turbinated bone. 

14. The inferior turbinated bone. 



17. The sphenoid bone. 



The above cut, copied from Youatt, gives, with the subjoined explana- 
tions, a sufficient description of most of the structures of the head. Some, 
however, demand a little more particular desciiption. 

The Brain. — The brain of the sheep is smaller in proportion than that 
of Man, but is shaped so nearly like the latter, and so closely resembles 
it in its general structui'e and conformation, that it furnishes the medical 
student with a good substitute for the brain of the human subject ! The 
brain is invested in a membrane called the pia mater. The cranium or 
skull is lined by the dura mater, and between this and the former there is 
a delicate membrane called the tunica arachnoides. 



The Nerves. — Ten pair of nerves arise from the brain, and thirty pair 
from the spinal cord. These supply the sense of seeing, hearing, tasting, 
smelling, feeling, &c. &c. ; and a portion of them, termed nerves of mo- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



237 



tion, communicate that volition of the brain to the different parts of the 
system, which produces motion. A description of these various nerves, or 
even an enumeration of them, would be of no practical benefit in a mere 
popular veterinary treatise. 

The Teeth. — The sheep has 24 molar teeth, and eight incisors. The 
latter are confined to the lower jaw, being opposed to a firm, hard, elastic 
pad or cushion on the upper jaw. The incisors are ^ow^e-shaped — i. e., 
concave without and convex within — which enables the sheep to crop the 
herbage closer to the ground than our other domestic ruminant, the ox. 

The lamb is boi'n without incisor teeth, or it has but two. In three or 
four weeks, it has eight small, shortish ones, as represented in fig. 50. — 



Fig. 50. 



Fig. 51. 



Fig. 52. 




Fig. 53. 



Fig. 54. 



Fig. 55. 



When not far from a year old — though sometimes not until fourteen, fif- 
teen, or even sixteen months old — the two central incisors are shed, and 
their place is supplied by two longer and broader teeth, as in fig. 51. The 
sheep is then termed, in this country, a ycarlivg, or yearling past. Two 
of the " lamb teeth" continue to be annually shed and their places supplied 
with the permanent ones until the sheep becomes ^^full-mouthed" Fig. 
52 presents the teeth of a two-year-old-past — fig. 53 of a three-year-old- 
past — fig. 55 of a four-year-old-past. The four-year-old-past is, in reality, 
nearly or quite five years old, before it obtains its whole number of fullif- 
grown permanent teeth. The two-year-old and three-year-old also about 
reach their next year before their additional incisors are fully grown. — 
Hence, the English writers all speak of two broad teeth (meaning fully- 
grown ones) as indicating the age of two years ; four broad teeth, three 
years ; six broad teeth, four years ; and eight broad teeth, or full-mouthed, 
five years. I prefer the English arrangement, as more accurate, but the 
other is the common one in the Northern and Eastern States; and, as it 
is a matter of little practical consequence, it will here be adhered to. 

Fig. 54 gives an inside view of the incisors of a three-year-old-past — an 
outside view of which is given in fig. 53. The two remaining lamb teeth 
are here shown, which in the outside view are concealed by the last pair 
of permanent teeth. From their being thus concealed, the three is often 
mistaken for the four-year-old-past, by those who do not count the penna- 
nent teeth. 

At six years old, the incisors begin to diminish in breadth. At seven 
they have lost their fan-like shape, being equilateral, long, and narrow. — 
At eight, they are still narrower ; and this year or the next, reversing the 
flaring or divergent position in which they are shown in fig. 55, they begin 



238 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

to point in toward the two central ones. Their narrowness and inward 
direction increases for a year or two more, when they begin to drop out. 
Sheep fed on turnips or other roots, lose their teeth earlier than those 
which only receive grain, hay, &c. in winter. At twelve years old, the in- 
cisors are usually gone with the exception of one or two loose ones. And 
here let me remark that when the incisors are reduced to one or two, they 
should always be twitched out with a pair of nippers. They are useless 
for the pui'pose for which they were formed, and they prevent that contact 
of the lower gum with the pad above, which is now the only substitute for 
teeth in cropping grass. When all the incisors are gone, the gums of the 
lower jaw rapidly harden, and I have known ewes to live for years, keep 
in fair condition and rear lambs, without an incisor tooth in their heads ! 

The above remarks are more particularly applicable to the Merino 
breed. The other breeds, so far as my acquaintance extends, lose their 
teeth, or become " broken-mouthed " somewhat earlier ; and they dwin- 
dle away and die soon after they begin to lose their teeth. 



THE LOWER EXTREMITIES. 

Thk Biflex Canal. — The lower extremities of the sheep, including the 
legs, feet, &c., require no anatomical description. I will simply call atten- 
tion to the biflex or interdigital canal, the nature and diseases of which 
have been the subjects of so many errors. It is a small orifice opening 
externally on the front of each pastern immediately above the cleft be- 
tween the toes. It bifurcates within, a tube passing down on each side 
of the inner face of the pastern, winding round and ending in a cul de sac. 

The use of this canal is a matter of doubt. Mr. Spooner thinks the hair 
always found in it is " excreted from the internal surface," and " from the 
emallness of the opening it cannot escape, or rather is detained for a use- 
ful pui-pose." He continues : 

" The use of this canal, thus stuSed with hair, is self-evident. We have mentioned the 
great motion possessed by this pastern joint, which is so gi-eat as to threaten to chafe the 
skin by the friction of one side against the other. It is to prevent or ward off this fiictioa 
that these biflex canals, or rather hair-stuffed cushions, are provided." 

In my judgment, this is a very far-fetched conclusion, and Mr. Youatt's 
is little more satisfactory. Diseases originating in this canal are some- 
times confounded with hoof-ail ; and the canal, or a portion of it, is often 
dissected, or rather mangled out by ignorant charlatans in pursuit of an 
imaginary tvorm, which, they induce the credulous farmer to believe, ori- 
ginates the hoof-ail ! The hoof-ail proper has nothing to do with, nor do 
its characteristic lesions extend to this canal. 



FEBRILE DISEASES. 

Simple inflammatory, malignant inflammatory, and typhus fevers often 
devastate the flocks of Europe ; but they seem scarcely to be known in 
the United States, and are included in no American work on the diseases 
of sheep which has fallen under my eye. 

The same remark applies to phrenitis (inflammation of the brain), pleu- 
ritis (inflammation of the membrane which lines the thorax), gastritis (in- 
flammation of the stomach), enteretis (inflammation of the intestines), cys- 
titis (inflammation of the bladder), laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), 
and several other inflammatory diseases. 

Ophthalmia. — Ophtb'almia, or inflammation of the eye, is not uncommon 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 239 

in our country, but is little noticed, as in most cases it disappears in a few 
days, or, at worst, is only followed by cataract. The cataract being usu- 
ally confined to one eye does not appreciably affect the value of the ani- 
mal, and therefore has no influence on its market price. As a remedy for this 
disease, Mr. Grove recommended blowing pulverized red cJialk into the 
inflamed eye ! Others squirt into it tobacco juice, from that ever ready 
reservoir of this nauseous fluid, their mouths ! I apprehend that all siich 
prescriptions are far worse than nothing. 

Conceiving it a matter of humanity to do sometliivg, I have in some in- 
stances drawn blood from under the eye, bathed the eye in tepid water, 
and occasionally with a weak solution of the sulphate of zinc combined 
with tincture of opium. These applications diminish pain and accelerate 
the cure. 

Pneumonia. — Pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, is not a com- 
mon disease, in the Northern States, but undoubted cases of it sometimes 
occur, after sheep have been exposed to sudden cold — particularly when 
recently shorn. The adhesions occasionally witnessed between the lungs 
and pleura of slaughtered sheep, betray the former existence of this dis- 
ease — though in many instances it was so slight as to be mistaken, in the 
time of it, for a hard cold. The sheep laboring under pneumonia is dull, 
ceases to ruminate, neglects its food, drinks frequently and largely, and its 
breathing is rapid and laborious. The eye is clouded — the nose discharges 
\ tenacious, fetid matter — the teeth are ground frequently, so that the 
sound is audible to some distance. The pulse is at first hard and rapid — 
sometimes intermittent; but before death it becomes weak. During the 
hight of the fever, the flanks heave violently. There is a hard, painful 
cough during the first stages of the disease. This becomes weaker, and 
seems to be accompanied with more pain as death approaches. 

Afi;er death, the lungs are found more or less hepatized, i. e. permanently 
condensed, and engorged with blood, so that their structure resembles 
that of the hepar, or liver — ^and they have so far lost their integrity that 
they ai'e torn asunder by the slightest force. 

It may be well in this place to remark that when sheep die from any 
cause with their blood in them, the lungs have a dark hepatized appear- 
ance. But whether actually hepatized or not, can be readily decided by 
compressing the windpipe, so that air cannot escape through it, and then 
between such compression and the body of the lungs, in a closely fitting 
orifice, insert a goose-quill or other tube, and continue to blow until the 
lungs are inflated so far as they can be. As they inflate, they will become 
lighter colored, and plainly manifest their cellular structure. Jf any por- 
tions of them cannot be inflated, and retain their dark, liver-like consistency 
and color, they exhibit hepatization — the result of high inflammatory ac- 
tion — and a state utterly incompatible, in the living animal, with the dis- 
charge of the natural functions of the viscus. 

With the treatment of pneumonia, I have but little personal experience. 
In the first or inflammatory stages of the disease, bleeding and aperients 
are clearly called for. Mr. Spooner recommends " early and copious 
bleeding, repeated, if necessary, in a few hours . . . this followed by aperi- 
ent medicines, such as 2 oz. of Epsom salts, which may be repeated in 
smaller doses if the bowels are not sufl[iciently relaxed. . . . The following 
sedative may also be given with gruel twice a day : 

Nitrate of potash 1 drachm. 

Digitalis, powdered 1 scruple. 

Tartarized antimony 1 do. 



240 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The few cases I have seen have been of a sub-acute character, and would 
not bear treatment so decidedly and I think dangerously antiphlogistic. 
Mr. Youatt remarks : 

" Depletion may be of inestimable value during the continuance — the short continuance— 
of the febrile state ; but excitation like this will soon be followed by corresponding ex- 
haustion, and then the bleeding and the purging would be murderous expedients, and gendaa, 
ginger, and the spirit of nitrous ether will afford the only hope of cure." 

Bronchitis. — It would be difficult to suppose that where sheep are sub- 
ject to pneumonia they would not also be subject to bronchitis — which is 
an inflammation of the mucous membrane which lines the bronchial tubes 
— the air-passes of the lungs. I have seen no cases, however, which 1 
have been able to identify as bronchitis, and have examined no subjects, 
after death, which exhibited its characteristic lesions. Its symptoms are 
those of an ordinary cold, but attended with more fever and a tenderness 
of the throat and belly when pressed upon. 

Treatment. — Administer salt in doses from \\ to 2 oz., with 6 or 8 oz. 
of lime-water, given in some other part of the day. This is Mr. Youatt's 
prescription. 

Catarrh. — CataiTh is an inflammation of the mucous membrane which 
lines the nasal passages — and it sometimes extends to the larynx and pha- 
rynx. In the first instance — where the lining of the nasal passages is 
alone and not very violently affected — it is merely accompanied by an in- 
creased discharge of mucus, and is rarely attended with much danger. In 
this form it is usually termed snnffies, and high-bred English mutton sheep, 
in this country, are apt to manifest more or less of it, after every sudden 
change of weather. When the inflammation extends to the mucous lining 
of the larynx and pharynx, some degree of fever usually supervenes, ac- 
companied by cough, and some loss of appetite. At this point the Eng- 
lish veterinarians usually recommend bleeding and purging. Catarrh rai'ely 
attacks the American fine-wooled sheep with sufficient violence in summer, 
to require the exhibition of remedies. I early found that depletion, in 
catarrh, in our severe lolnter months, rapidly produced that fatal prostra- 
tion, from which it is next to impossible to recover the sheep — entirely im- 
possible, without bestowing an amount of time and care on it, costing far 
more than the price of any ordinary sheep. 

The hcst course is to prevent the disease, by judicious precautions. With 
that amount of attention which every prudent flock-master should bestow 
on his sheep, the hardy American Merino is little subject to it. Good, 
comfortable, but loell-ventilated shelters, constantly accessible to the sheep 
in winter, with a sufficiency of food regularly administered, is usually a 
sufficient safeguard ; and after some years of experience, during which I 
have tried a variety of experiments on this disease, I resort to no other 
remedies — in other words, I do nothing for those occasional cases of ordina- 
ry catarrh which arise in my flock, and they never prove fatal. 

Malignant Epizootic Catarrh. — Essentially differing from the pre- 
ceding in type and virulence is an epidemic, or, more properly speaking, 
an epizootic, malady, which as often as once in eight or ten years sweeps 
over extended sections of the Northern States, destroying more sheep than 
all the other diseases put together. It usually makes its appearance in win- 
ters characterized by rapid and violent changes of temperature. The 
Northern farmers speak of these as the " bad winters " for sheep — fre- 
quently without assigning any name to the malady. Others term the lat- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 241 

ter " The Distemper," and others again call it the " Grub in the Head," at- 
tributing the evil exclusively to the presence of these parasites. The 
latter, as I shall hereafter show, is an entirely erroneous hypothesis. 

The w^inter of 1846-7 was one of these " bad winters," and the de- 
struction of sheep in New-York, and some adjoining States, was very ex- 
tensive. Some flock-masters lost half, others three-quarters, and a few 
seven-eighths of their flocks. One individual within a few miles of me lost 
live hundred out of eight hundred — another nine hundred out of one 
thousand ! But these severe losses fell mainly on the holders of the deli- 
cate Saxon sheep, and perhaps, generally, on those possessing not the best 
accommodations, or the greatest degree of energy and skill. 

I lost about fifty sheep during this winter, and never having seen any de- 
scription of the pathology of this disease, its diagnosis, its lesions — or, in 
short, any attempt to ascertain its specific character or proper classifica- 
tion in our ovine nosology — I shall attemj^t to supply some of these omis- 
sions. Not dreaming then of a publication of this kind, my notes were 
only taken for private reference, and were not as full as they should be for 
a veterinary treatise. I might supply some of these omissions accurately 
from recollection, but do not consider it proper thus to endanger the accu- 
racy of records, which as far as they go, I tliink may now be implicithj re- 
lied on. My post-mortem examinations were made at intervals snatched 
from other pressing engagements. This fact, and certain preconceived 
views — which I subsequently found erroneous — prevented me from making 
those examinations, and more particularly the records of them, as minute 
and extended as could be wished. I then sought only to convince myself 
of the true nature and character of the disease. 

In detailing the results of my experience in the premises, I conceive it a 
duty to frankly state the whole facts. The records oi mismanagement and 
error, are often as useful, nay, more so, than those of successful manage- 
ment, and it is a pitiful pride which prevents any man, who pretends to 
communicate information to the public, from giving that public the bene- 
fit of his examples which are to be avoided, as well as those which are to 
\ie, followed. 

Up to February, my sheep remained apparently perfectly sound, and 
they were in good flesh. Each flock had excellent shelters, were fed re- 
gularly, etc., and although sheep were beginning to perish about the coun- 
try, my uniform previous impunity in these " bad winters " led me to en- 
tertain no apprehensions of the prevailing epizootic. About the first of 
February, my sheep went into the charge of a new man, hired upon the 
highest recomiwndations. A few days alter, 1 was called away from home 
for a week. The weather during my absence was, a part of the time, very 
severe. The sheep-house occupied by one flock containing one hundred 
sheep, was, with the exception of two doors, as close a room as can be 
made by nailing on the wall-boards vertically and without lapping, as is 
common on our Northern barns.* One of the doors was always left open, 
to permit the free ingress and egress of the sheep, and for necessary ventila- 
tion. A half dozen ewes which had been untimely impregnated by a 
neighbor's ram, were on the point of lambing, and it being safer to confine 
the ewes in a warm room over night, the shepherd, instead of removing 
them to such a room, confined the whole flock in the sheep-house every 
night, and rendered it warm by closing both doors ! After two or three 
hours, the air must have become excessively impure. On entering the 
sheep-house, on my return, I was at once struck with the fetid, highly of- 
fensive smell. A change, too, slight but omiaous, had taken place in the 

" Boards in these caees shrink so as to leave slight cracks between them. 

2H 



242 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

appearance of a part of the flock. They showed no signs of violent colds, I 
heard no coughing, sneezing, or labored respiration — and the only indica- 
tion of catarrh winch I noticed, was a nasal discharge, by a few sheep. 
But those having this nasal discharge, and some others, looked dull and 
drooping ; their eyes ran a little — were partially closed, the caruncle and 
lids looked pale — their movements were languid — and the shepherd com- 
plained that they did not eat quite so well as the others. The pulse was 
nearly natural — though 1 thought a trifle too languid. 

Not knowing what the disease was — and fully believing that depletion 
by bleeding or physic was not called for, let the disease be what it would. 
1 contented myself with thoroughly purifying the sheep house — seeingthat 
the feeding, etc.,* was managed with the greatest regularity — and closely 
watchino- the farther symptoms of disease in the flock. In about a week, 
the above described symptoms were evidently aggravated, and there had 
been a rapid emiiciation, accompanied with debility, in the sheep first at- 
tacked. The countenance was exceeding dull and drooping — the eye 
kept more than half closed — the caruncle, lids, &c. almost bloodless — a 
gummy yellow secretion below the eye — thick glutinous mucus adhering 
in and about the nostrils — appetite feeble — pulse languid — and the muscu- 
lar energy greatly prostrated. Nothing unusual was yet noticed about 
their stools or urine. 

I now had all the diseased sheep removed from the flock, and placed in 
rooms the tempei'ature of which could be easily regulated. 

I commenced giving slight tonics and stimulants, such as gentian, gin- 
ger, etc., but apparently with no material effect. They rapidly grew weak- 
er, stumbled and fell as they walked, and soon became unable to rise. The 
appetite grew feebler — the mucus at the nose, in some instances, tinged 
with dark grumous blood — the respiration opjiressed, and they died with- 
in a day or two after they became unable to rise. 

I proceeded to make some post-mortem examinations, which I shall 
here detail, although, as I have before remarked, they are extremely im- 
perfect. I was at hrst inclined to suspect that the primary disease was one 
of some of the abdominal or thoracic viscera, and this impression was con- 
firmed by the abnormal condition of these viscera in the first subjects exam- 
ined. I therefore improperly confined my attention to these, and some of 
the external tissues, vnt.hnut any examination oj" the interior organs of the 
head and neck. I shall give my notes verbatim as they were taken down 
at the time, whether the appearances detailed have, as I now believe, any 
connection with the fatal disease or not. 

Case 1st. Old sheep. Much emaciated — mouth and lips covered with 
yellow froth — yellow waxy matter under eyes — adhesive mucus in and 
about nostrils. On opening, external tissues appear healthy — two hyda- 
tids on omentum of the size of a walnut — gall-bladder enlarged and enor- 
mously distended with pale, and apparently not properly eliminated bile 
— gall-bladder slig'ntly adhering to omentum — mesenteric glands enlarged 
— other abdominal viscera believed to be normal — fasces in rectum thought 
to indicate a constipated habit — stomachs rather empty. Thoracic viscera 
healthy. 

Case 2d. Two years old. External appeai'ances as in Case 1st, with 
the exception of the yellow froth about the mouth. External tissues 
healthy. Grall-bladder very small and nearly empty — bile pale and un- 
eliminated — mesenteric glands enlarged — schirrous tumor at the junction 



* They had been fed with brijiht hay three times a day, and turnips. As those affected as above did not 
eat their turnips well, I commenced feeding some oats, in addition to the turnips. I believed that a gener- 
ous feed was called for, and I gave it. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 243 

of the coecum and colon of the size of a butteraut. Superior lobe of left 
lung adherent to pleura costalis — three lobes of right lung ditto, with slight 
traces of rece'?^^ inflammation. Hydro-pericarditis — the pericardium slight- 
ly inflamed and containing something more than a gill of serum. 

Case 3d. Old, and in lamb. External appearances and tissues as in 
Case 2d. Omentum dark-yellowish, or yellowish-brown by deposition of 
lymph, the I'esult of inflammatory action — gall-bladder precisely as in Case 
2d — tabes mesentrica or enlargement of the mesenteric glands, as in the 
preceding cases. Middle lobe of right lung slightly hepatized, and adher- 
ent to pleura costalis — hydro-pericarditis, (a gill of serum in pericar- 
dium.) 

C tsc 4th. Yearling ram. External appearances and tissues as in pi-e- 
ceding cases. Two small hydatids on omentum — gall-bladder as in two 
preceding cases — mesenteric glands as in preceding cases. Traces of diar- 
rhea. Thoracic viscera healthy. 

Case 5th. Lamb. External appearance as in preceding cases — omen- 
tum as in Case 3d, and small hydatid on it — gall-bladder as in three pre- 
ceding cases — ditto of mesenteric glnnds. Thoracic viscera healthy. 

Case 6th. Four-year-old ram, killed for examination, in the first stage 
of the disease. Yet strong, appetite good, in fair condition, and exhibited 
no particular external indications of disease except running at the eyes, a 
slight gummy deposition below them — and some mucus about the nostrils. 
Gall-bladder but little better filled than in preceding cases — mesenteric 
glands same as in preceding cases. Thoracic viscera healthy. 

Remarks on Preceding Cases. — I had started on the supposition that 
the fatal disease would be found one of the lungs, consequent on ca- 
tarrh. I thought it might prove a species of pneumonia, though some of 
the characteristic symptoms of that disease seemed to be wanting ; but I 
believed it would rather prove to be phthisis pulmonalis, or pulmonary 
consumption. To the last disease, when it assumes the form of what is 
popularly called " quick consumption," it seemed to me to bear several 
striking analogies. But the post-mortem examinations above detailed, en- 
tirely overthrow these suppositions. Except in Case 2d, there were no 
manifestations o? recent inflammation of the lungs. The adhesions in Case 
3d, were evidently referable to a past date. In the other four cases, the 
lungs were in a healthy condition — exhibiting not a trace of hepatization, 
tubercles, ulcei's, or other abnormal action ! In Case 6th, where the dis- 
ease was in its first observable and therefore inflammatory stage, none of 
the thoracic viscera presented a particle of inflammation ! 

Then what ivas the disease 1 It was evidently the same in the several 
cases, yet the lesions disclosed by post-mortem examination were very va- 
rious. Hence, 1 was led to conclude that these lesions were the results 
o£ sy7n2^fomatic disease, and that the primary/ one was not yet discovered. 

The malady continued to spread. New cases occurred daily — it began 
to exhibit itself in my other flocks. It had ma;nifestly put on the charac- 
ter of an epizootic — or, if I may be permitted to coin a word, an en-zo- 
otic. I now gave orders to have every sheep removed from the several flocks, 
as soon as it should be attacked with disease. I also resolved on more ex- 
tended post-mortem examinations. The following are the notes taken in 
the immediately succeeding cases. 

Case 7th. Yearling. External appearance as in the preceding cases — 
external tissues normal — mesenteiic glands slightly enlarged — gall-blad- 
der of natural size, with good bile, and with the natural discolorations 
about it. Thoracic viscera healthy, with exception of pericardium, which 
exhibited traces of recent inflammation and contained a gill of serura 



244 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The thorax also contained considerable fluid, which escaped without ad- 
measurement. 

I now examined the bronchial tubes, the lower portions of the windpipe, 
oesophagus, &c., and fcnmd them all in an apparently healthy condition. 
Before tracing these passages to the thi'oat, I removed the upper portion 
of the skull and carefully examined the brain and its investing mem- 
branes. All seemed in a perfectly normal state. I then made a longitu- 
dinal section down through the middle part of the whole head, as is shown 
in fig. 49, and tlie seat and character of the fatal malady stood at once 
revealed ! 

The mucous membrane lining the whole nasal cavity, highly congested 
and thickened throughout its whole extent, betrayed the most intense in- 
flammation. At the junction of the cellular ethmoid bones with the cribri- 
form plate, (in the ethmoidal cells,) slight ulcers were forming on the mem- 
braneous lining ! The inflammation also extended to the mucous mem- 
brane of the pharynx, and say three inches of the upper portion of the oeso- 
phagus. Here it rather abruptly terminated. 

Case 8th. Old, in lamb. External appearances as in preceding cases — 
abdominal parietes healthy — all the viscera apparently healthy. The in- 
flammation of the mucous membrane lining the nasal cavity, pharynx, and 
upper poition of oesophagus, as in Case 7th, only not quite so acute — no 
ulcers on the membrane. 

Cases 5th and 6th revieioed. The heads of these two subjects having 
been accidentally preserved, I examined them, and found the inflammatory 
action of the raucous membrane same as in cases 7th and Sth. Nor have I 
a particle of doubt that the same would have been found the case in all 
the preceding subjects, had they been examined. 

Nosology and Treatment. — I had little difficulty in coming to the conclu- 
sion that the primary and main disease was a species of catarrh. It evidently, 
howevez", differed from ordinary catarrh in its diagnosis, and in the extent 
of the lesions accompanying both the primary and eymptomatic dis- 
eases. 

In no case, even in the first attack, did I notice anything — the fever — 
the accelerated pulse — the redness about the eyes and nostrils — the cough- 
ing, etc., accompanying an ordinary severe attack of catarrh. And it was 
for this reason that I was misled as to the seat of the malady. From the 
very outset, according to my observations, the type of the disease was 
typhoid — sinking — rapidly tending to fatal prostration. 

How to reduce the local inflammation of the membrane lining the nasal 
cavities, I was at a loss to determine. I was satisfied that there was too 
much debility to admit of an antiphlogistic course of treatment. Still, to 
make myself sure, I bled in three or four cases, and, as I anticipated, it 
evidently accelerated the fatal catastrophe. Blistering could not be brought 
near to the seat of the inflammation, excepting on the nose, and independ- 
ent of the extreme difficulty of treating a blister on a spot so constantly 
exposed to dirt, the rubbing of hay, etc., in winter feeding, I believed it 
could have little effect, on an account of the thick nasal bone intervening 
between it and any portion of the inflamed membrane. And, moreover, 
the greater portion of the inflamed membrane rested on bones detached, 
except at one extremity, from all connection with the nasal bone. I blew 
Scotch simft' (through paper tubes) up the nostrils of some of the sheep, 
for two objects — l,to remove, by sneezing, the mucus, which mechanical- 
ly, and evidently injuriously, obstructed respiration ; and 2, to pi'oduce a 
new action, by which an increased mucous secretion would be excited, 
and thus the congested membrane relieved. But, farther than this, I re- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 245 

soiled to no local or other treatment designed specifically to reach the local 
inflammation. 

The next step was to fix on the constitutional treatment. The liver was 
evidently in a torpid state. There was a functional derangement in the 
mesenteric and probably other glands, and a want of activity in the general 
secretory system. What medicine would stimulate the liver, cause it to 
secrete the proper quantity as well as quality of bile, change the morbid 
action of the glands and secretory system, and restore activity and health 
to the vital functions generally 1 In my judgment, nothing promised so 
well as mercury ; and by its well known effect on the entire secretory sys- 
tem, it would powerfully tend to relieve the congested membranes of the 
head. In this opinion I was joined by a learned and experienced physi- 
cian, who, both as a matter of taste and humanity, has given no little at- 
tention to veterinary science and practice. The proto-chloride of mercury 
(calomel) was supposed to possess too much specific gravity to reach the 
fourth stomach, with any certainty, administered in a liquid ; and if ad- 
ministered as a ball or pill, it would be almost svre not to reach that stom- 
ach.* The dissolved bi-chloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate) was 
therefore hit upo/. One grain was dissolved in two ounces of water, and 
one-half ounce of the water (or one-eighth of a grain of corrosive sublimate) 
was exhibited in a day, in two doses. 

As constipation existed in most of the cases, it was thought that the 
bowels required to be stimulated into action, and slightly evacuated with 
a mild laxative. Having noticed in similar cases of debility and torpor of 
the intestinal canal, that purgation is often followed by a serous diarrhea, 
difficult to correct, and leading to rapid prostration, and there being no in- 
tegtinal irritation to suffer exacerbation, I thought that rhubarb — from its 
well known tendency to give tone to the bowels, and its secondary effect 
as a mild astringent — was particularly indicated. It was given in a decoc- 
tion — the equivalent of ten or fifteen grains at a dose — accompanied Avith 
the ordinary carminative and stomachic adjuvants, ginger and gentian, in 
infusion. 

To a portion of the sheep I administered the rhubarb and its adjuvants 
alone ; to others I gave the bi-chloride of mercury in addition to the prece- 
ding. I employed these courses of treatment in a number of cases, the 
records of all which have been accidentally destroyed with the exception 
of the following three. 

Case 9th, Ram, three years old. Has been drooping and weak, with 
feeble appetite, for some time — has been separated from flock. Has eaten 
his oats iiTegularly for several days, and refused turnips, bran, etc., alto- 
gether — much emaciated — eyes partly closed, with a yellowish deposit 
below them — caruncle and lids bloodless — nostrils impeded with adhesive 
yellowish mucus. 

March 17th. Weaker than before — would not rise to feed — not seen to 
eat or ruminate — gait, when helped up, weak and staggering ; eyes near- 
ly closed — stooled dry, hard faeces — urine dark and reddish. Exhibited 
rhubarb wiih ginger and gentian in gruel — blew snuff" into nostrils. March 
18th, morning — Weaker; refused to eat anything. Exhibited rhubarb, 
ginger and gentian in gruel. Noon — Urine seemingly bloody : breathing 
labored : exhibited corrosive sublimate in gruel. Night — Dying, March 
19th, moniing — Dead. 

Post-mortem appearances. Inner edges of both lobes of liver softened 
about two inches from horizontal fissure : hypropericarditis and hydro- 



* For reasons which wUl be hereafter given under the head of " The Proper Way of Administering 
Medicines." 



246 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



thorax — nearly half pint of sei'um in latter. Other viscera apparently 
normal. Lining of superior portion of oesophagus and nasal cavity as in 
Case 8th. 

Case 10th. Three-year-old ewe. Drooping for several days : sleepy — 
emaciated and w^eak : cannot rise without help : appearances about nos- 
trils and eyes as in Case 9th : appetite considerable — rumination not ob- 
served. March 17th. Exhibited ginger and gentian in gruel : blew 
snuff in nostrils. Latter produced sneezing and a discharge of mucus. 
ISth : Morning. Weaker and would not eat. Noon. A little live- 
lier : ate hay and grain ; exhibited ginger and gentian. Night. Evac- 
uations thin: urine of a natural color. 1 9th. Morning: same. Noon. 
Exhibited same remedies as before. The same course was pursued for 
three days : the sheep appearing rather to gain, when one morning it was 
found dead. No post-mortem examination made. 

Case 11th. Old ewe. Symptoms precisely as in Case 10th, except an 
occasional grinding of the teeth. March 17th. Treated exactly as in Case 
9th. Lived three days and appeared to rally a little, then brought forth a 
lamb and died. Post-mortem examination. Abdominal parietes healthy 
— gall-bladder filled with pale bile : liver normal in size but softened 
throughout its entire extent, and pale : portions of it paler and more disor- 
ganized than others : no parasites in its ducts. Thoracic viscera normal. 
Sub-acute inflammation of the mucous lining of the nasal cavity, and of the 
superior portion of the oesophagus. Slight ulcer in the ethmoidal cells. 

I made vaiious other post-mortem examinations. Some of the viscera 
in every case were in a more or less abnormal state ; but there was the 
same variety in the locality of the diseased action as in the preceding 
cases. But so far as the seat and character of the catarrhal affection was 
concerned, it was iiniform in every case. The only difference was in in- 
tensity, as exhibited by the extent of the lesions. 

Not a single sheep recovered after the emaciation and debility had pro- 
ceeded to any gi'eat extent ! One such only lingered along until shearing. 
Its wool gradually dropped off: it seemed to rally a little once or twice, 
and then relapse ; and it perished one night in a rain-storm. In the gen- 
erality of instances the time from the first observed symptoms until death, 
varied from ten to fifteen days. A ?ew died in a shorter time. 

In the three cases last detailed, the disease had evidently proceeded too 
far to be arrested by anjj treatment. I much regret the loss of the records 
of the other cases, which would throw farther light on the subject. I 
thouiilit that the treatment produced favorable effects in some instances — 
particularly when resorted to at the commencement of the disease. At all 
events, some of the sheep recovered under the treatment — paiticularly un- 
der that including the exhibition of the bi-chloride of mercury — and very 
few, if any, recovered without any treatment. Candor compels me to say, 
however, that the results of the treatment were far from being highly sat- 
isfactory — that the cases of recovery were much fewer than the deaths. I 
have merely stated what I believe to be the facts in the premises ; I do not 
feel prepared to make (inji recommend ations. 

The epizootic gradually abated toward spring, and my flock have since 
been in perfect health. 

Near spring, many farmers found what seemed to them an unusual num- 
ber of fjrubs in the head (frontal sinuses) of the sheep which died of the 
prevailing epizootic, and therefore they attributed the disease to this cause, 
and this seems to be the prevailing popular opinion. In some of the latest 
cases in ray flock, I discovered more or less grubs ; and, in two or three 
instances, an unusual number. In other cases where the external symp- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 247 

toras and the post-mortem appearances were almost identical, no grubs 
were to be seen. For this reason, and others which I shall assign when 
treating of grub in the head, I conclude that the popular opinion is erro- 
neous. 

The Rot. — The existence and prevalence of the Rot in the United 
States have been sufficiently alluded to in Letter XIV. Notwithstanding 
its comparative rareness here, so far as is known, at present, I think it 
expedient to give a full desciiption of it. It may be more prevalent 
hereafter, or it may be found peculiar to localities where sheep have not 
yet been introduced. And whether so or not, as its existence will often 
be feared and suspected in diseased flocks, it is proper that the flock- 
master always have it in his power to clearly identify this terrible des- 
troyer. 

The diagnosis of the disease is thus given by Mr. Spooner.* 

" The first symptoms attending this disease are by no means strongly marked ; there is 
no loss of condition, but rather apparently the contrary ; indeed, sheep intended for the 
butcher have been purposely cothed or rotted in order to increase their fattening properties 
for a few weeks, a practice which was adopted by the celebrated Bakewell. A want of 
liveliness and paleness of the membranes generally may be considered as the first symptoms 
of the disease, to which may be added a yellowness of the caruncle at the corner of the 
eye. Dr. Harrison observes, ' when in warm, sultry or rainy weather, sheep that are grazing 
on low and moist lands feed rapidly, and some of them die suddenly, there is lear that they 
have contracted the rot.' This suspicion will be farther increased if, a i'evv weeks alterward, 
the sheep begin to shrink and become flaccid about tlie loins. By pressure about the hips at 
this time a crackling is perceptible now or soon afterward, the countenance looks pale, and 
upon parting the fleece the skin is found to liave changed its vermilion tint for a pale red, 
and the wool is easily separated from the pelt; and as the disorder advances the skin be- 
comes dap])led with yellow^or black spots. To these symptoms succeed increased dullness, 
loss of condition, greater paleness of the mucous membranes, the eyelids becoming almost 
white and afterward yellow. This yellowness extends to other parts of the body, and a 
Vi'atery fluid appears under the skin, which becomes loose and flabby, the wool coming off 
readily. The symptoms of di'opsy often extend over the body, and sometimes the sheep 
becomes chockered, as it is termed — a large swelling forms under the jaw, which, from the 
appearances of the fluid it contains, is in some places called the watery poke. The duration, 
of the disease is uncertain ; the animal occasionally dies shortly after becoming aftected, but 
more frequently it extends to from three to six months, the sheep gradually losing flesh and 
pining away, particularly if, as is frequently the case, an obstinate purging supervenes." 

Mr. Youatt thus describes the post-mortem appearances : t 

" AVhen a rotted sheep is examined after death, the whole cellular tissue is found to be 
infiltrated, and a yellow serous fluid everywhere follows the knii'e. The muscles are soft 
and flabby : they have the appearance of being macerated. The kidneys are pale, flaccid, 
and infiltrated. The mesenteric glands enlarged, and engorged with yellow serous fluid. 
The belly is fiequently filled with water or purulent matter ; the peritoneum is everywhere 
thickened, and the bowels adhere together by means of an unnatural growth. The heart 
is enlarged and softened, and the lungs are filled with tubercles. The prnicipal alterations 
of structure are in the liver. It is pale, livid, and broken down with the slightest pressure ; 
and on being boiled it will almost dissolve away. When the liver is not pale, it is often 
curiouslv spotted. In some cases it is speckled hke the back of a toad. Nevertheless, some 
})arts of it are hard and schirrous ; others are ulcerated, and the biliary ducts are filled with 
flukes. Here is the decided seat of disease, and it is here that the nature of the malady is 
to be learned. It is inflammation of the liver. . . . The liver attiacls the principal atten- 
tion of the examiner : it displays the evident eflfects of acute and destructive inflammation ; 
and still more plainly the ravages of the parasite with which its ducts are crowded. Here 
is plainly the original seat of the disease — the center whence a destructive influence spreads 
on every side. . . . The Fluke — the Fasciola of LinuEeus — the Distoma hepaticum of 
Rhodolphi — the Planaria of Goese — is found in the biliary ducts of the sheep, the goat, the 
deer, the ox, the horse, the ass, the hog, the dog, the rabbit, the guinea-pig, and various 
other animals, and even in the human being. It is from three quarters of an inch to an inch 
and a quarter in length, and from oiie-third to half an inch in greatest breadth. 



* Spooner, p. 381, et supra. 
t Youatt, p. 447, et supra. 



248 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Figs. 56 and 58 represent this parasite of its usual size and appearance, and its resem- 
blance to a minute sole, di%'ested of its fins, is very striking. The head is of a pointed 
form, round above and flat beneath ; and the mouth opens laterally instead of vertically. 



Fig. 56. 



Fig. 57. 



Fig. 58. 




Fig. 59. 




THE FLUKE. 

There are no barbs or tentaculas, as described by some author."?. The eyes are placed on the 
most prominent part of the head, and are very singularly constructed (fig. 57). They have 
the bony ring of the bird. . . . The anastomoses of the blond-vessels which ramify over 
the head are plainly seen through a tolerable microscope. The circulating and digestive 
organs are also evident, and are seated ahnost immediately below the head. The situation 
of the heart is seen in fig. 56, and tlie two main vessels evidently springing from it, and 
extending through almost the whole length of the fluke. Smaller blood-vessels, if so they 
may be called, ramify from them on either side. The convolutions of the bowels appear iu 
fig. 59, and the vent, both for the fieces and the ova, and probably for the connection be- 
tween the sexes, is on the under part, and almost close to the neck 

In the belly, if so it may be called, are almost invariably a very great number of oval 
particles, hundreds of which, taken together, are not equal in bulk to a grain of sand. They 
are (jf a pale red color, and are supposed to be the spawn or eggs of the parasite 

There can be no doubt that the eggs ate frequently received in the food. Having been 
discharged with the dung, they remain on the grass or damp spot on which they may fall, 
retaining their vital principle for an indefinite period of time. . . . They find not always, or 
they find not at all, a proper nidus in the places in which they are deposited ; but taken up 
with the f(jod, escaping the perils of rumination, and threading every vessel and duct until 
they arrive at the biliaiy canal, they burst from their shells, and grow, and probably multi- 
ply 

Leeuwenhoek says that he has taken 870 flukes out of one liver, exclusive of those 
that wt!ro cut to pieces or destroyed in opening the various ducts. In other cases, and 
where the sheep have died of the rot, there were not ft)und more than ten or twelve. . . . 

Then, is the fluke worm the cause or the effect of rot ? To a certain degree both. They 
aggravate the disease ; they perpetuate a state of irritability smd disorganization, which 

must necessarily undermine the strength of any animal Notwithstanding all this, 

however, if the fluke follow the analogy of other entoza and parasites, it is the effect and 
not the cause of rot 

The rot in sheep is evidently connected with the soil or state of the pasture. It is con- 
fined to wet seasons, or to the feeding on ground moist and marshy at all seasons. It has 
reference to the evaporation of water, and to the presence and decomposition of moist vege- 
table matter. It is rarely or almost never seen on dry or sandy soils and in dry seasons ; 
it is rarely wanting on boggy or poachy ground, except when that ground is dried by the 
heat of the summer's sun, or completely covered by the winter's rain. On the same farm 
there are certain fields on which no sheep can be ttiined with impimity. There are others 
that seldom or never give the rot. The soil of the first is found to be of a pervious nature, 
on which wet cannot long remain — the second takes a long time to dry, or is rarely or 
never so 

Some seasons are far more favorable to the development of the rot than others, and there 
is no manner of doubt as to the character of those seasons. After a rainy summer or a 
moist autumn, or during a wet winter, the rot destroys like a pestilence. A return and a 
coutinuance of diy weather materially arrests its murderous progress. Most of the sheep 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 249 

that had been ah-eady infected die ; but the number of those that are lost soon begins to be 
materially diminished. It is, therefore sufficiently plain that the rot depends upon, or is 
caused by, the existence of moisture. A rainy season and a tenacious soil are fruitful or 
inevitable sources of it The mischief is eflected with almost incredible rapidity." 

Mr. Youatt here gives various instances to prove that rot is engendered 
in a few^ hours and even minutes. * He farther says : 

" It is an old observation that all pasture that is STispected lo be unsound, the sheep should 
be folded early in the evening, before the first dews begin to fall, and should not be released 
from the fold until the dew is partly evaporated 

Then the mode of prevention — that with which the farmer will have most to do, for the 
sheep having become once decidedly rotten, neither medicine nor management will have 
much power in arresting the evil — consists in altering the character of as much of ihe dan- 
gerous ground as he can, and keeping his sheep from those pastures which defy all his 

attempts to improve them If all unnecessary moisture is removed from the soil, or 

if the access of air is cut off by the flooding of the pasture, no poisonous gas has existence, 
and the sheep continue sound 

The account of the treatment of rot must, to a considerable extent, be very unsatis- 
factory. " 

Mr. Youatt proceeds to recommend the sale of sheep to the butcher 
when they are found to be rotted ! Rot hastens for a short period the 
accumulation of fat. Bakewell — a man whose name is associated with 
the exhibition of prodigious abilities in the improvement of stock, but, in 
my mind, tarnished also by an equal exhibition of selfishness and absolute 
meanness — displayed a characteristic sagacity in purposely rotting his 
sheep to avail himself of the above circumstance ! t It is with pain [ 
make the following qtiotation from Youatt — the only thing of such a char- 
acter I remember to have noticed in his voluminous works : 

" It is one of the characters of the rot to hasten, and that to a strange degree, the accu- 
mulation of flesh and fat. Let not the farmer, however, push this experiment too far. Let 
him carefully overlook every sheep daily, and dispose of tliose which cease to make pro- 
gress, or which seem beginning to retrograde. It has already been stated that the meat of 
the rotted sheep, in the early stage of the disease, is; not like that of the sound one; it is 
pale and not so fn-m; but it is not unwholesome (!) and it is coveted by certain epicures, 
•who, perhaps, are not altogether aware of the real state of the animal (.' I ) All this is 
matter of calculation, and must be left to the owner of the sheep ; except that, if the breed 
is not of veiy considerable value, and the disease has not proceeded to emaciation or other 
fearful symptoms, the first loss will probably be the least ; and if the owner can get any- 
thing like a tolerable price for them, tlie sooner they are sent to the butcher, or consumed 
at home, the better. Supposing, however, that their appearance is beginning to tell tales 
about them, and they are too far gone to be disposed of in the market or consumed at home, 
ai'e they to be abandoned to their late ? No : far from it. " 

Conceding to Mr. Youatt the whole benefit of that saving clause about 
" consumption at home," the above sentence is one which I could well 
wish stricken from his valuable work. The sale of the meat of diseased 
animals, for human consumption, is abhorrent to decency and propriety, 
and there is not a respectable American family which would not revolt at 
the idea of either selling or consuming such meat. 

Of the treatment of rot, Mr. Youatt continues : 

" If it is suited to the convenience of the farmer, and such ground were at all within his 
reach, the sheep should be sent to a salt-marsh in preference to the best pasture on the best 
farm. There it will feed on the salt incrusted on the herbage, and jiervading the pores of 
every blade of grass. A healthy salt-marsh ]iermits not the sheep to become rotten which 
graze upon it ; and if the disease is not considerably advanced, it cures those which are sent 
upon it with the rot. . . , Are there any indications of fever — heated mouth, heaving 
flanks, or failing appetite 1 Is the general inflammation beginning lo have a determination 
to that part on wliich the disease usually expends its chiefest virulence ? Is there yellow- 



* Youatt. p. 453. 

t So say both Spooner and Youatt. 



2l 



250 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ness of the lips and of the mouth, of the eyes, and of the skin ? At the same time, are 
there no indications of weakness and decay ? Nothing to show that the constitution is 
fatally undermined ? Bleed — abstract, according to the circumstances of the case, eight, 
ten, or twelve ounces of blood. There is no disease of an inHammatory character at its 
commencement which is not benefited by early bleeding. To this let a dose of physic 
succeed — two or three ounces of Epsom salts, admmistered in the cautious manner so fre- 
quently recommended ; and to these means let a change of diet be immediately added — 
good hay in the field, and hay, straw, or chaff, in the straw-yard. 

The physic having operated, or an additional dose, perchance, having been administered 
in order to quicken the action of the first, the fanner will look out for farther means and 

appliances Two or three grains of calomel may be given daily, but mixed with 

half the quantity of opium, in order to secure its beneficial, and ward off its injurious effects 
on the ruminant. To this should be added — a simple and cheap medicine, but that which 

is the sheet-anchor of the practitioner here — common salt In the first place, it is a 

purgative inferior to few, when given in a full dose ; and it is a tonic as well as a purgative. 
.... A mild tonic, as well as an aperient, is plainly indicated soon after the commencement 
of rot. The doses should be from two to three drachms, repeated morning and night. When 
the inflammatory stage is clearly passed, stronger tonics may be added to the salt, and there 
are none superior to the gentian and ginger roots; from one to two drachms of each, finely 

jKJwdered, may be added to each dose of the salt The sheep having a little recov- 

ered from the disease, should still contmue on the best and driest pasture on the farm, and 
should always have salt within their reach The rot is not iiifectious." 



Diarrhea. — This disease is often more properly a nervous than a febrile 
one — in the former case, a morbid increase of the peristaltic motion of the 
bowels — in the latter, an inflammation of the mucous coat of the smallei 
intestines. But for the purpose of viewing it in connection with dysen- 
tery, to which it is sometimes closely allied, and into which it often runs 
— and which is clearly a febrile disease — it will be described here. 

Common diarrhea, purging, or scours, manifests itself simply by the 
copiousness and fluidity of the alvine evacuations. It is brought on by a 
sudden change from dry feed to green, or by the introduction of im- 
proper substances into the stomach. It is important to clearly distinguish 
this disease from dysentery. In dianhea there is no apparent general 
fever ; the appetite remains good ; the stools are thin and watery, but 
unaccompanied with slime (mucus) and blood ; the odor of the faeces is 
far less offensive than in dysentery ; the general condition of the animal is 
but little changed. 

Treatment. — Confinement to dry food for a day or two, and a gradual re- 
turn to it, oftentimes suffice. I have rarely administered anything to grown 
sheep, and never have lost one from this disease. To lambs, especially if 
attacked in the fall, the disease is more serious. If the purging is severe, 
and especially if any mucus is observed with the fjeces, the feculent mat- 
ter should be removed from the bowels by a gentle cathartic — as half a 
drachm of rhubarb, or an ounce of linseed-oil, or half an ounce of Epsom 
salts to a lamb. This should always be followed by an astringent, and in 
nine cases out of ten, the latter will serve in the first instance. I gener- 
ally administer, say, \ oz. of prepared chalk in half a pint of tepid milk, 
once a day for two or three days, at the end of which, and fi-equently after 
the first dose, the purging will have ordinarily abated or entirely ceased. 

The following is the formula of the English " sheep's cordial " usually 
prescribed in cases of diarrhea by the English veterinarians, and there can 
be no doubt it is a safe and excellent remedy — better probably than sim- 
ple chalk and milk, in severe cases : Take of prepared chalk one ounce, 
powdered catechu half an ounce, powdere<l ginger two drachms, and pow- 
dered opium half a drachm ; mix them with half a pint of peppermint wa- 
ter — give two or three table-spoonsfuU morning and night to a grown 
sheep, and half that quantity to a lamb. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 251 

Dysentery. — Dysentery is caused by an inflammation of the mucous oi 
inner coat of the larger intestines, causing a preternatural increase in their 
secretions, and a morbid alteration in the character of those secretions. It 
is fiequently consequent on that form of diarrhea which is caused by an 
inflammation of the mucous coat of the smaller intestines. The inflam- 
mation extends throughout the whole alimentary canal, increases in viru- 
lence, and it becomes dysentery — a disease frequently dangerous and ob- 
stinate in its character, but fortunately not common among sheep in this 
part of the United States. Its diagnosis differs from that of diarrhea in 
several readily observed particulars. There is evident fever ; the appe- 
tite is capricious, ordinarily very feeble ; the stools are as thin or even thin- 
ner than in diarrhea, but much more adhesive in consequence of the pres- 
ence of large quantities of mucus. As the erosion of the intestines ad- 
vances, the faeces are tinged with blood ; their odor is intolerably offensive ; 
and the animal rapidly wastes away. The course of the disease extends 
from a few days to several weeks. 

Treatment. — I have seen but a few well-defined cases of dysentery, 
and in the half-dozen instances which have occurred in my own flock, 
I have usually administered a couple of purges of linseed-oil, followed by 
chalk and milk as in dian-hea (only doubling the dose of chalk), and a few 
drops of laudanum, say twenty or thirty — with ginger and gentian. Ac- 
cording to my recollection, about one-third of the cases have proved fatal, 
but they have usually been old and feeble sheep. 

Farther inquiry satisfies me that moderate bleeding should be resorted 
to in the first or inflammatory stage of the disease, or whenever decided 
febrile symptoms are found to be present. 

Mr. Youalt prescribes bleeding, cathartics, mashes, gruel, &c. He 
says : 

" Two doses of physic having been administered, the practitioner will probably have re- 
course to astringents. The sheep's cordial will probably supply him with the best; and to 
this, tonics may soon begin to be added — an additional quantity of ginger may enter into the 
composition of the cordial, and gentian powder will be a useful auxiliary. With this — as 
an excellent stimulus to cause the sphincter of the anus to contract, and also the mouths of 
the innumerable secretory and exhalent vessels which open on the iimer surface of the in- 
testine — a half grain of sti-ychniue may be combined Smaller doses should be given 

for three or foui- days." 

Garget — Is an inflammation of the udder, with or without gene- 
ral inflammation. Where simply an inflammation of the udder, it is usual- 
ly caused by a too great accumulation of milk in the latter prior to lamb- 
ing, or in consequence of the death of the lamb. It is not the serious mala- 
dy, hei'e, described by the English veterinarians. 

Treatment. — Drawing the milk partly from the bag so that the hungry 
lamb will butt and work at it an unusual time in pursuit of its food, and 
bathing it a few times in cold* water, usually sufiices. If the lamb is dead, 
the milk should be drawn a few times, at increasing intervals, washing the 
udder for some time in cold water at each milking. In cases of obdurate 
induration, the udder should be anointed with iodine ointment. If there 
is general fever in the system, an ounce of Epsom salts may be given. 

NERVOUS DISEASES. 

Apoplexy. — Soon after the sheep are turned to grass in the spring, one of 
the best conditioned sheep in the flock is sometimes suddenly found dead. 

• The English veterinarians recommended warm fomentations. 



252 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The symptoms which precede the catastrophe are occasionally noted. 
The sheep leaps frantically into the air two or three times, dashes itself 
on the ground and suddenly rises, and dies in a few moments. Such 
cases occur but now and then, and none have ever occurred in my flock 
to my knowledge. I have therefore had no opportunity of observing the 
diagnosis, or making dissections. There can be little doubt, however, 
that the disease is apoplexy. 

Desirous to raise the condition of a poorish flock (the poorest sheep 
culled from my other flocks) somewhat too rapidly, perhaps, some winters 
since, in addition to good hay three times a day, I ordered them fed a gill 
of oats per head ; and as rapidly as it could be done without bringing on 
scours, I had them fed a liberal allowance of Swedish turnips — about as 
much as they would eat up clean. They gained perceptibly. One day a 
sheep was reported to me as having become suddenly blind and motion- 
less. I immediately examined it. It was in good fair condition. It stood 
with its head a little down — its eyes were glassy and staring — it was stone 
blind ! The evening before nothing unusual had been perceived about it. 
I bled it at the inner angle of each eye, and the blood had scarcely started 
before its sight began to return. In less than a minute it walked off 
among its companions. It had no relapse. Another case was soon re- 
ported ; I treated it in the same way, and with the same apparent effect. 
The symptoms soon returned, however, and I bled again. This appeared 
to produce but a partial restoration of the sight. The sheep would not 
follow its companions into and out of the sheep-house. When approach- 
ed, it would run about knocking its head against fences, &c. It lost con- 
dition, finally became unable to rise, and died. Another one, after being 
bled, fed regularly, but its sight was never restored. It lived along thus 
for three or four weeks, and then fell into a hole containing water, and 
perished. Another apparently recovered, all but sight, and continued in 
my flock for more than a year afterward. The eye was bright and clear, 
as in gutta serena, and the blindness would not be suspected, unless the 
sheep was cornered up. Then, if the catchers remained momentarily 
still, it would as soon run into their arms or against the fence, as in any 
other direction. Perhaps fifteen cases occurred. In three or four instan- 
ces the hl'md sheep, when they moved, constantly traveled round in a 
circle. In about as many cases, they twisted themselves about without 
progressing, the head was drawn round toward one side, they fell, ground 
their teeth, and their mouths were covei'ed with a frothy mucus. In 
neither of the latter description of cases did bleeding at the inner angles 
of the eyes afford anything more than temporary relief. They all proved 
fatal. 

At the time these things occurred, I regret to say that I bad paid but 
very little attention to veterinary science, and had never made a dissec- 
tion. I did nothing but bleed at the inner angles of the eyes, and made 
no post-mortem examinations. 

Taking into consideration the feed and the symptoms, there can be but 
little doubt, I think, that all these cases were referable to a determination 
of Wood to tlie hrain. The sheep were not fat, but the secretions of 
blood were rapidly and powerfully increased by rich and abundant food. 

Treatment. — If the eyes are prominent and fixed, the membranes of the 
mouth and nose highly florid, the nostrils highly dilated, and the respira- 
tion labored and stertorous, the veins of the head turgid, the pulse strong 
and rather slow, and these symptoms attended by a partial or entire loss 
of sight and hearing, it is one of those decided cases of apoplexy which 
require immediate and decided treatment. As the good eflfects of vene- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 253 

section, in all cases, and especially in this, depend not only upon the amount 
of blood abstracted, but also upon the rapidity with which it is drawn 
from the veins, the eye-veins are not the proper ones to op^n. They are 
so small that the blood flows slowly, and if cut directly across, as is usually 
done, they soon contract, and the flow of blood is arrested before a suffi- 
cient quantity has been abstracted. It is better to have recourse at once 
to the jugular vein. The animal should be bled until an obvious constitu 
tional effect is produced — the pulse lowered and the rigidity of the muscles 
relaxed. An aperient should at once follow bleeding, and if the animal is 
strong and plethoric, a sheep of the size of the Merino would require at 
least two ounces of Epsom salts, and one of the large mutton sheep more. 
If this should fail to open the bowels, half an ounce of the salts should be 
be given, say, twice a day. 

In the milder cases which I have mentioned as occuiTing in my own 
flock, I think had I bled more thoroughly, in the very first attack, and 
given a mild ajierient of Epsom salts, most of the sheep would have re- 
covered. 

Phrenitis, Tetanus, Epilepsy, Palsy, Rabies. — I never have seen a 
well-defined case of either of these maladies among our sheep, though, 
in a few instances, something which struck me at the time as somewhat 
analogous to paralysis or palsy. Palsy is a diminution or entire loss of 
the powers of motion in some part of the body. I have occasionally 
seen, in the winter, poor lambs, or poor pregnant ewes, or poor feeble 
ewes immediately after yeaning in the spring, lose the power of walking 
or standing rather too suddenly to have it satisfactorily referable to in- 
creasing debility. The animal seems to have lost all strength in its loins, 
and the hind-quarters are powerless. It makes ineffectual attempts to 
rise, and cannot stand if placed upon its feet. 

Trcalvient. — Warmth, gentle stimulants, and good nursing, might raise 
the patient, but in nineteen cases out of twenty it would be more econo- 
mical and equally humane, to at once deprive it of life. 

Colic. — Sheep are occasionally seen, particularly in the winter, Ivino- 
down and rising every moment or two, and constantly stretching their fore 
and hind legs so far apart that their bellies almost touch the ground. 
They appear to be in much pain, refuse all food, and not unfrequently 
die, unless relieved. This disease is popularly known as the " stretches,'" 
and is eiToneously attributed to introsusception of an intestine. Some 
farmers worry the sheep with a dog, and others hold it up by the hind 
legs, to effect a cure ! I consider it a sort of flatulent colic induced by 
costiveness. 

Treatment. — Half an ounce of Epsom salts, a drachm of ginger, and 
sixty drops of essence of peppermint. The salts alone, however, will 
effect the cure, as will an equivalent dose of linseed-oil, or even hog's lard. 



254 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER XVI. 

DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT— (Continued.) 

Cachectic Diseases... Hydatid on the Brain — diagnosis— common methods of treating it— treatment of 
French and Knglish veterinarians. ..The I'elt Rot. ..Local diseases. ..Grub in the head— the nature of 
the disease, if one — erroneous popular opinions— location of the grub — description of the fly (Oistrua 

ovis) ratahod of attacking the sheep— conduct of the fheep — appearance of the larva — its habits — the 

chrysalis— the larva found in the heads of healthy sheep— not believed to be the cause or source of fatal 
(Jisea-e- Mr. Bracy Clarli's and Mr. Youatt's opinion— method of preventing and of expelling the grub. .. 
Scab— nature of it — habits of the acari— description of them— contagiousness of the disease— post-mor- 
tem appearances — treatment... Erysipelatous scab — treatment. ..Dif^ease of Kitiex Canal — nature and 
treatment. .-Iloofail — first indications— erroneous statements of foreign veterinarians — of Mr. Youatt — 
author's experience with it— diagnosis — chronic hoof ail— can it be cured? — difiiculiies— preparation of 
the foot— ordinary treatment — proper treatment — cost of curing a flock— cheap partial remedies — sug- 
gestions— contagiousness of the disease — how communicated. ..Fouls — cause and treatment. . .Broncho- 
cele or goitre — diagnosis— tieatment. ..Miscellaneous diseases... Poison from eating Laurel — symptoms — 
treatment. ..8ore Face — cause and treatment.. .Loss of cud — not a disease.. .Hoove — cause — symptoms — 
cure... Obstruction of Gullet, or choking — treatment. ..Fractures— treatment, ifcc. ..Method of adminis- 
tering medicine into the stomach... Method of bleeding... The place of feeling the pulse.. .List of medi- 
cines emploved in treating the diseases of sheep.. .Ale. . -Aloes.. .Alum.. .Antimony.. .Arsenic. .Blue 

Vitriol. . .Camphor Carraway seeds Catechu Chalk. . .Corrosive Sublimate. . .Digitalis. . .Epsom 

Salts. ..Gentian. ..Ginger. ..Iodine. ..Lard.. .Lime, carbonate of.. .Lime, chloride of.. ..Linseed OU... 
Mercury... Muriatic Acid. ..Nitrate of Potash. ..Nitrate of Silver. ..Nitric Acid. . .Opium. ..Pepper. .. 

Pimrnto.. .Rhubarb.. .Salt... Sulphate of Iron.. .Sulphur Sulphuric Acid — Spirit of Tar Tar... 

Tobacco. ..Turpentine. ..Verdigris. ..Zinc. 

CACHECTIC DISEASES. 

Hydatid on the Brain. — This disease, known as turnsick, sturdy, 
staggers, etc., is spoken of by Chancellor Livingston, and other writers 
of reputation, as having occurred in this country within their own obser- 
vation. I have never seen a case of it, and shall be obliged, therefore, to 
make use of the descriptions of others. Mr. Spooner says : 

" The symptoms are a dull, moping appearance, the sheep septirating from the flock, a 
wandering and blue appeafance to the eye, and sometimes partial or total blindness ; the 
8hee[) ap[>ears unsteady in its walk, will sometimes stop suddenly and fall down, at others 
gallop across the field, and after the disease has existed for some time will almost constantly 
move round in a circle — there seems, indeed, to be an aberration of the intellect of the 
animal. These symptoms, though rarely all present in the same subject, are yet sufficiently 
marked to prevent the disease being mistaken for any other. On examining the brain of 
Bturdied sheep, we find what appears to be a watery bladder, termed a hydatid, which may 
be either small or of the size of a hen's egg. This hydatid, one of the class of entozoons 
has been termed by naturalists the hydatis polycephalus cerehralis, w\nc\i signifies the 
many-headed hydalid of the brain ; these heads being irregularly distributed on the sur- 
face of the bladder, and on the front part of each head there is a mouth surrounded by 
minute shaip hooks within a ring of sucking disks. These disks serve as the means of 
attachment by ibrming a vacmim, and bring the mouth in contact with the surface, and thus 
by the aid of the hooks the parasite is nourished. The coats of the hydatid are disposed 
iu several layers, one of which appears to possess a muscular power. The.se facts are 
develoyied by the microscope, which also discovers numerous little bodies adhering to the 
internal membrane. The fluid in the bladder is usually clear, but occasionally turbid, and 
then it has been found to contain a number of minute worms. " 

According to Mr, Youatt, this disease attacks many of the weakly 
lambs in the English flocks. It usually appears, he remarks, " during 
the first year of the animal's life, and when he is about or under six 
months old." It succeeds a " a severe winter and a cold, wet spring." — 
He says : 

" If there is only one para-site iidiabiling the brain of a sturdied sheep, its situation is very 
uncertain. It is mostly found beneath the pia-mater, lying upon the brain, and in or upon 
the scissure lietween the two hemispheres. If it is within the brain, it is generally iu one 
jf the ventricles, but occasionally iu the substance of the brain, and, in a few instances, ia 
that of the cerebellum 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 255 

This is a singular disease ; but it is a sadly prevalent and fatal one in wet and moorish 

districts It is much more fatal in France than in Great Britain. It is supposed 

that nearly a million of sheep are destroyed in France every year by this pest of the ovine 
race 

The means of cure are exceedingly limited. They are confined to the removal or des- 
truction of the vesicle. Medicine is altogether out of the question here." 

Many barbarous methods have been adopted to rupture the hydatid, 
which I will not disgust you by repeating. Mr. James Hogg thrust a 
wire up the nostrils of the sheep, and through the plate of the ethmoid 
bone into the brain, and thus, as he assures us, punctured the hydatid and 
" cured many a sheep ! " * This practice, which I cannot characterize 
otherwise than as atrocious, is justly condemned by Mr. Youatt. The 
dotted lines d, e, and d, d, in fig. 49, show how limited a portion of the 
brain could be reached with a wire or trochar by piercing the plate of the 
ethmoid bone — the only portion of the walls of the skull thin enough to 
be so pierced by a trochar introduced at the nostrils. 

Mr. Parkinson " pulled the ears very hard for some time," and then cut 
them off close to the head ! t 

Where the hydatid is not imbedded in the brain, its constant pressure, 
singularly enough, causes a portion of the cranium to be absorbed, and 
finally the part immediately over the hydatid becomes thin and soft 
enough to yield under the pressure of the finger. When such a spot is 
discovered, the English veterinarians usually dissect back the muscular 
integuments, remove a portion of the bone, carefully divide the investing 
membranes of the brain, and then, if possible, remove the hydatid whole 
— or, failing to do this, remove its fluid contents. The membranes and 
integuments are then restored to their position, and an adhesive plaster 
placed over the whole. The French veterinarians usually simply punc- 
ture the cranium and the cist with a trochar, and laying the sheep on its 
back, permit the fluid to run out through the orifice thus made. A com- 
mon awl would answer every purpose for such a puncture. The puncture 
would be the preferable method for the unskilled practitioner. But when 
we take into consideration the hazard and cruelty attending the operation 
at best, and the conceded liability of a return of the malady — the growth 
of new hydatids — it becomes apparent that, in this country, it would not 
be worth while, unless in the case of uncommonly valuable sheep, to resort 
to any other remedy than depriving the miserable animal of life. 

Pelt Rot — Is classified as a disease by Mr. Livingston, and various 
other American writers. Mr. Livingston says : 

" This is often mistaken for the scab, but it is in fact a different and less dangerous 
disease ; in this the v^rool will fall off, and leave the sheep nearly naked ; but it is attended 
with no soreness, though a while crust will cover the skin from the wool which has 
dropped. It generally arises from hard keeping and much exposure to cold and wet. and, 
in fact, the animal often dies in severe weather from the cold it suffers by the loss of its 
coat. The remedy is full feeding, and a warm stall, and anointing the hard part of the skLu 
wdth tar, oil, and butter." X 

I have seen frequent cases of the pelt rot, but never have done any- 
thing for it, scarcely considering it a disease. If the condition of a poor 
sheep is raised as suddenly as practicable, by generous keep in the winter, 
the wool is very apt to drop off, and if yet cold, the sheep will require 
warm shelter. 



* Hog" on Sheep, p. 59. 

1 Parkineon on Sheep, vol. 1, p. 412. 

J Livingston on Sheep, Appendix, p. 179. 



256 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LOCAL DISEASES. 
" Grub in the Head."— If the " grubs " found in the frontal and max- 
illary sinuses of the sheep actually, in any case, produce disease, it must be, 
in my judgment, by the irritation and inflammation which they induce in 
the mucous membrane which lines those cavities. The popular theory 
that the grub causes death by boring through the bony walls which sur- 
round the brain, and attacking the substance of the brain itself, is, it seems 
to me, utterly absurd. The only part of the skull where it could even be 
fancied that such a perforation would be practicable, is the cribriform plate 
of the ethmoid bone (11 of fig. 49,) which is very thin and is pierced with 
numerous small holes for the passage of nerves. But an inspection of the 
same figure will show that the sinus where the parasite is generally found 
lodged, is not in immediate juxtaposition with the cribriform plate, and 
that a passage from the former to the brain, would lead directly through 
the frontal bone — the thickest one of the whole cranium, I never saw but 
one grub in the cells of the ethmoid bone near the cribriform plate, and 
that, I judged at the time, was thrown there accidentally by the violence 
attending the opening of the head.* But if the grub actually penetrates 
to the brain, the fact would readily be disclosed after death. The full- 
grown grub would necessarily leave an orifice of considerable diameter 
through the skull. Who has seen any such orifice in the cribriform plate 
or elsewhere 1 Who has seen any orifice but the natural ones of the crib- 
riform plate, filled with the nerves which pass through them ] The farmer 
splits open the head of a sheep with an ax, cutting, mangling and scatter- 
ing its contents, by the repeated blows necessary to effect Ins purpose. 

Under such circumstances grubs are sometimes found scattered through 
all the nasal cavities — over and among the brains — and on, the ground — 
The proof is just as strong, here, that prior to opening the head, some of 
the grubs were on the ground, as that they were in the brain ! 

The " grub " of popular parlance is the larva of the CEstrus oris, or gad-fly 
of the sheep. The latter is represented of the nat- 
ural size in figures GO and 61. It is composed of Fig, oo- 
five rings. It is tiger-colored on the back and ^ 

belly, sprinkled with spots and patches of brown. 
The wings are striped. The comparative propor- 
tions of the head, corslet, wings, etc. are sufficient- 
ly seen in the cuts. He who desires a full, scien- 
tific description of these insects, or who would sheep GAB-Ftv. 
fully investigate their habits and economy, will do 

well to consult the excellent monograph of them by Mr. Bracy Clark 
the celebrated veterinarian. 

The sheep gad-fly is led by instinct to deposit its eggs within the nos- 
trils of the sheep. Its attempts to do this, most common in July and Au- 
gust, are always^ indicated by the sheep, which collect in close clumps 
with their heads inward and their noses thrust close to the ground, and in- 
to it, if any loose dirt or sand is within their reach. If the fly succeeds in 
depositing its egcr^ it is immediately hatched by the warmth and moisture 
of the part, and the young grubs, or larvae, crawl up the nose, finding their 
devious way to the sinuses, where, by means of their tentaculge, they at- 
tach themselves to the mucous membrane lining those cavities. Durino- 
the ascent of the larvye, the sheep stamps, tosses its head violently, and of- 
ten dashes away from its companions wildly over the field. Thelarvee re- 

* The head was cloven with an nx ! It is proper to eay, however, that various writers speak of havine 
found the gi-ubs in the ethmoid cells, und indeed in all the nasal cavities. 




SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 257 



main in the sinuses feeding on the mucus secreted by the membrane, and 
apparently creating no farther annoyance, until ready to assume tlieir pu- 
pa form in the succeeding spring. Figures 62 and 63 give the shape and 
an upper and under view of the full-grown larva. 




Fiff. C3. 




THE "grub" or larva OF THE SHEEP GAD-FLY. 

The body consists of eleven rings, colorless in the young grub, but the 
elevated portions growing darker with age, and becoming a dark brovz-n 
when the full size is attained. There are round spots of a still dai-ker 
color on each of these bands. At the edges of the rings are a few short 
hairs, and lower down some round darkish spots, as shown in fig. 62. — 
Small red spines, as shown in fig. 63, cover the space between the rings 
on the belly. The remainder of the body (with the exception of the poste- 
rior stigmata) is white. The tentaculee, as well as certain appendages on 
each side of the anus, the purposes of which have not been discovered, are 
seen in fig. 63. 

The larva having remained in the sinuses through the fall and winter, 
abandons them as the warm weather advances in tlie latter part of spring. 
It crawls down the nose, creating even greater irritation and excitement 
than when it originally ascended, drops on the ground, and rapidly bur- 
rows into it. In a few hours its skin has contracted, become of a dark 
brown color, and it has assumed the form of a chrysalis, as seen in fig. 64. 
Or rather, this figure exhibits the shell of the chrysalis, af- 
ter the escape of the fly ; and fig. 65 shows the upper ex- ^^" ^'^^' 
tremity or head of the pupa, detached by the fly in its es- 
cape. 

The experiments of Valisnieri go to show that the ffi*- 
trus ovis never eats — and this is the received opinion. — 
The male, after impregnating two or three females, dies, 
and the latter having deposited their ova in the nostrils 
of the sheep, also soon perish. of ch"uys\hs. 

The larva in the heads of sheep may, and probably do 
add to the irritation of those inflammatory diseases, such as catarrh, which 
attack the membraneous lining of the nasal cavities ; and they are, as we 
have seen, a powerful source of momentary irritation in the first instance, 
when ascending to and descending from their lodging-place in the head. 
But in the interval between these events — extending over a period of 
several months — not a movement of the sheep indicates the least annoy- 
ance at their presence, or reveals to the veterinarian whether they exist in 
the sinuses or not. It would be very difficult to believe that all the local 
irritation which these parasites could cause, would be sufficient to termi- 
nate life, and, so far as my observation has extended, post-mortem exam- 
ination discloses no lesions which would in anywise sanction such belief. 
The larvce, moreover, are found, at the proper season, in the heads of near- 
ly all sheep — the healthy as well as the diseased — and I never have been 
able to ascertain that the number of them is greater, on the average, in the 
heads of those sheep which were supposed to have fallen victims to their 
attacks, than in the heads of perfectly healthy sheep slaughtered for the 
table. And to prove that the popular ideas on the subject are but vague 

3K 




258 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

and crude — not the result of that long and close comparison of symptoms, 
results, and post-mortem appearances, which would give weight to the 
opinions of the most unerudite — we have hut to notice a few of the cases 
popularly referred to the " grub in the head." A sheep in the highest 
condition and apparent health leaps into the air two or three times, and 
suddenly dies, and if a grub can be found in the cavities of the head, that 
is the undoubted destroyer. Another wastes away for months and dies 
lingeringly, a mere skeleton, and the same proof establishes the same fact. 
Whether there has been fever or no fever — whether there has been obsti- 
nate constipation, or equally obstinate dysentery — whether one viscus or 
another exhibit traces of abnormal action — whether the disease has been 
acute or chronic — in a woid, whatever the form or character of the mal- 
ady — however diametrically diH'erent the diagnosis and the lesions, it is a 
clear case of " grub in the head," if two or three of those parasites are 
found there ! 

Mr. Bracy Clark and Mr. Youatt, so far from regarding the larva of the 
CKstrus ovis as the cause of a fatal disease, suggest that they may even 
j>roviote the health of the sheep by diminishing the tendency to cerebral 
disease — especially determinations of blood — by establishing counter irri- 
tation ! Mr. Spooner does not speak of their producing fatal effects in 
any instances, nor am 1 aware that any late scientific veterinarians do. 

Treatment. — Though the presence of the grub constitutes no disease, 
some think it well to diminish their number by all convenient means. — 
One simple way of effecting this is by turning up with a plow a furrow of 
earth in the sheep pasture. Into this the sheep will thrust their noses on 
the approach of the (Estnis, and thus many of them escape its attacks. — 
Some farmers smear the noses of their sheep with tar occasionally, during 
the proper season — the odor of which is believed to repel the fly. Others 
compel the sheep to smear their own noses every week or two, by feed- 
ing them their salt spiinkled over tar. Blacklock says that the larvae may 
be dislodged even from the sinuses, by blowing tobacco smoke for some 
moments thi'ough the tail of a pipe into each nostril. I have never tried 
the experiment. 

The Scab. — The scab is a cutaneous disease, analogous to the mange 
in horses and the itch in men. It is caused and propagated by a minute 
insect, the acarus. M. Walz, a German veterinarian, who has thrown 
great light on the habits of these parasites, says : 

" If one or more femnle acari are placed on the wool of a soinid slieep, they quickly ti-avel 
to the root of it, and bury theinselves in the skin, the pkice at whicli they pcnetiated being 
scarcely visible, or only distinguished by a minute red point. On the tenth or twelfth day a 
little swelling may be detected with tlie finder, and the skin changes its color, and has a 
gi-eenish blue tint. The pustule is now rapidly formed, and about the sixteenth day breaks, 
and the mf)thers again appear, with their litlle ones attached to their i<?et, and covered by 
a portion of the shell of the egg from which lh'>y have just escaped. These little ones im- 
mediately set to work, and penetrate the iicighboiing skin, and l)uiy themselves beneath it, 
and find their proper nourishment, and giow and propagate, until the poor animal has myri- 
ads of them to prey on him, and it is not wonderful lliat he shnnld speedilv sink. Some of 
the male acari were placed on the sound skin of a sheep, and they too bin-rowcd their way 
and disappeared for a while, and tlie pustule in due time arose ; but the itching and the 
Bcab soon disappeared without the employment of any remedy. 

The figures on the next page are copied from M. Walz's work : 
The female acarus brings forth from eight to fifteen young at a litter. 
The scab is often produced spontaneously in England by mismanage- 
ment of various kinds, such as " bad keep, starvation, hasty driving, 
dogging, and exposure afterward to cold and wet ;" and it spreads rapidly 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



259 



by contagion. It is very prevalent there, and annually causes an immense 
loss in the wool and flesh of the British flocks. In the United States it is 
comparatively little known, and so far as I am able to learn, never origin- 
ates spontaneously. It is a singular fact that short-wooled sheep, like the 

Fig. 68. 



Fig. 66. 



Fig. 67. 




THE ACARUS WHICH CAUSES SCAB. 

Fig. 67. — The acsri of their natural size on a darlc ground. 

Fig. 66.— The female of 366 limes the natural size, larger than the male, of an oval form, and provided 
with eight feet, four before and four behind. 
a. — The surker. 

b. b. b. b. — The four anterior feet, vfith their trumpet-like appendices. 

c. c. — The two interior hind feet 

d. d. — The two outward feel, the extremities of which are provided with Bome long hairs, and on the 
other parts of the legs are shorter hairs. To these hairs the young ones adhere, when they first escape 
from the pustule. 

e. — The tail, containing the amis and vulva, garnished with some short hairs. 

Fig. 68. — The male on its back, and seen by the same magnifying power. 

a. — The sucker. 

b b. b. b. — The fore-legs with their trumpet-like appendices, as seen in the female. 

c. c. — The two hind-legs, with the same appendices and hairs. 

d. — The rudiments of the abdominal feet. 

e. — The tail. 

Merino, are much less subject to its attacks, and this is probably one 
reason for its little comparative prevalence in the United States. Mr. 
Youatt observes : 

" The old and unhealthy sheep are first attacked, and long-wooled sheep in preference to 
the short ; a healthy short-wooled sheep will long bid defiance to the contagion, or probably 
escape it altogether." 

It spreads from individual to individual and from flock to flock, not only 
by means of direct contact, but by the acari left on posts, stones, and other 
substances against which diseased sheep have rubbed themselves. Healthy 
sbeep are therefore liable to contract the malady if turned on pastures pre- 
viously occupied by scabby sheep, though some considerable time may 
have elapsed since the departure of the latter. 

The sheep laboring under the scab is exceedingly restless. It rubs it- 
self with violence against trees, stones, fences, &c. It scratches itself 
with its feet, and bites its sores and tears off its wool with its teeth. As 
the pustules are broken, their matter escapes, and forms scabs covering 
red, inflamed sores. The sores constantly extend, increasing the misery 
of the tortured animal. If unrelieved, he pines away and soon perishes. 

I have never had an opportunity to observe the post-mortem appear- 
ances. Mr. Youatt says : 

" The post-mortem appearances are very uncertain and inconclusive. There is generally 
chronic inflammation of the intestines, with the presence of a great number of worms. The 
liver is occasionally schirrous, and the spleen enlarged ; and there are frequently serous effa 



260 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

sions in the belly, and sometimes in the chest. There has been evident sympathy between 
the digestive and the cutaneous systems." 

Treatment . — About twelve years since, I purchased 150 fiiie-wooled 
sheep just driven into the county from a considerable distance. I placed 
them on a farm then ow^ned by me, in another town, and did not see them 
for about three weeks. One of my men then reported to me that the sheep 
were amiss — that they were shedding off their wool — sore spots were be- 
ginning to show on them — and that they rubbed themselves against the 
fence-corners, &c. Though I had never seen the scab, 1 took it for granted 
that this was the disease. No time was to be lost, as I had 700 other 
sheep on the farm — though fortunately, thus far, the new comers had been 
kept entirely separate from them. Barely looking into Mr. Livingston's 
work for a remedy, 1 provided myself with an ample supply of tobacco 
and set out. The sheep had been shorn, and their backs were covered 
with scabs and sores. They evidently had the scab. I had a large potash 
kettle sunk partly in the ground as an extempore vat, and an unweighed 
quantity of tobacco put to boiling in several other kettles. The only care 
was to have enough of the decoction, as it was rapidly wasted, and to have 
it strong enough. A little spirits of turpentine was occasionally thrown on 
the decoction, say to every third or fourth sheep dipped. It was neces- 
sary to use it sparingly, as, not mixing with the fluid and floating on the 
surface, too much of it otherwise came in contact with the sheep. Not at- 
tending to this at first, two or three of the sheep are thrown into great ag- 
ony, and appeared to be on the point of dying. I had each sheep caught 
and its scabs scoured off, by two men who rubbed them with stiff" shoe- 
brushes, dipped in a suds of tobacco-water and soft soap. The two men 
then dipped the sheep all over in the large kettle of tobacco-water, rub- 
bing and kneading the sore spots with their hands while immersed in the 
fluid. The decoction was so strong that many of the sheep appeared to be 
sickened either by immersion or by its fumes ; and one of the men who 
dipped, though a tobacco-chewer, vomited, and became so sick that his 
place had to be supplied by another. 

The effect on the sheep was almost magical ! The sores rapidly healed, 
the sheep gained in condition, the new wool immediately started, and I 
never had a more perfectly healthy flock on my farm. Though adminis- 
tered with little reference to economy, the remedy was a decisive one. — 
With a vat like fig. 27, (Letter XII,) this would not necessarily be a very 
expensive method, with sheep recently sheared. But the assaults of the 
scab usually come on in the spring before shearing time, and it would re- 
quire an immense quantity of the tobacco decoction to dip sheep with their 
fleeces on, however carefully it miglit be pressed out. 

The following is the remedy recommended by Chancellor Livingston : 

" First, I separate the sheep (for it is very infectious) ; I then cut off the wool as far as the 
skin feels hard to the finger ; the scab is then washed with soap-suds, and rubbed hard with 
a slioe-brush, so as to cleanse and break the scab. I always keep for this use a decoction 
of tobacco, to which I add one-third by measure of the lye of wood ashes, as much hog's-lard 
as will be dissolved by the lye, a small cpiautity of tar from the tar-bucket, which contains 
grease, and about one-eighth of the whole by measure of spirits of turpentine. This liquor 
is rubbed upon the part infected, and spread to a little distance round it, in three washings, 
with an interval of three days each. I have never failed in this way to effect a cure when 
the disorder was only partial. ... i cannot say whether it would cure a sheep infected 
BO as to lose half its fleece."* 

The following remedies are much used in Great Britain : 

No. 1. — Dip the sheep in an infusion of arsenic, in the proportion of 



* Lmngston's Eaaay. Appendix, p. 177. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 261 

half a pound of arsenic to twelve gallons of water. The sheep should pre- 
viously be washed in soap and water. The infusion must not be per- 
mitted to enter the mouth or nostrils. 

No. 2. — Take common mercurial ointment, for bad cases, rub it own 
with three times its weight of lard — for ordinary cases, five times its weight 
of lard. Rub a little of this ointment into the head of the sheep. Part the 
wool so as to expose the skin in a line from the head to the tail, and then 
apply a little of the ointment with the finger the whole way. Make a sim- 
ilar furrow and application, on each side, four inches from the first, and so 
on over the whole body. The quantity of ointment (after being com- 
pounded with the lard) should not exceed two ounces, and considerably 
less will generally suffice. A lamb requires but one-third as much as a 
grown sheep. This will generally cure, but if the sheep should continue 
to rub itself, a lighter application of the same should be made in ten days. 

No. 3. — Take of lard or palm oil 2 lbs., oil of tar i lb., sulphur 1 lb. — 
Gradually mix the last two, then rub down the compound with the first. — 
Apply in the same way as No. 2. 

No. 4. — Take of corrosive sublimate | lb., white hellebore, powdered, I 
lb., whale or other oil 6 gallons, rosin 2 lbs., tallow 2 lbs. " The first two 
to be mixed with a little of the oil, and the rest being melted together, the 
whole to be gradually mixed." This is a powerful preparation and must 
not be applied too freely. 

Mr. Spooner gives the preference to No. 1, as least troublesome ; Mr. 
Youatt to No. 2 ; and the author of the Mountain Shepherd's Manual to 
No. 4. I should certainly prefer No. 3, if it is, as it is asserted to be, 
equally effectual, for the reason that it contains no poisonous or dangerous 
ingredients. 

An erysipelatous scab, or erysipelas, attended with considerable itch- 
ing, sometimes attacks the English flocks, but I have heard of no cases of 
it here. This would be classified as a febrile disease. It is treated with 
a cooling purgative, venesection, and oil or lard applied to the sores. 

Disease of the Biflex Canal. — From the introduction of foreign bod- 
ies into the biflex canal, or from other causes, it occasionally becomes the 
seat of inflammation. This is sometimes confounded with the hoof-ail, 
but the diseases are entirely distinct and different from each other. In- 
flammation of the biflex canal causes an enlargement and redness of the 
pastern, particularly about the external orifice of the canal. The toes are 
thrown wide apart by the tumor. I never have known it to attack more 
than one foot, and never have allowed it to go to the point of ulceration, 
which it is said to do if neglected. There is none of that soreness and 
disorganization between the back part of the toes — and none of that pecu- 
liar fetor which distinguishes the hoof-ail. I never have found it anything 
like so serious a disease as it is described to be by the English veterina- 
rians. 

Treatment. — I have always scarified the coronet, making one or two 
deeper incisions in the pi-incipal swelling around the mouth of the canal 
— covered the foot with tar — and paid no more attention to it. 

Hoof- Ail. — The first symptom of this troublesome malady, which is or- 
dinarily noticed, is a lameness of one or both of the fore feet. But on daily 
examiningthe feet of aflock which have the disease among them, it will be 
readily seen that the lesions manifest themselves for several days before 
they are followed with lameness. Scarcely any English writer whom I 



262 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

have read, describes with respectable accuracy the first appearances of 
the hoof-ail as it exhibits itself in this country, and among the Jine-ivnoled 
sheep* Mr. Youatt says : 

" The foot will be found hot and tender, the horn softer than usuyl, and there will be en- 
largement about the coronet, and a slight separation of the hoof fi'om it, with portions of the 
horn worn away, and ulcers formed below, and a discharge of their fetid matter. The ul- 
cers, if neglected, continue to increase ; they tlirow out fungous granulations, they separate 
the hoof more and more from the parts beneath, until at length it drops off."' 

The above is not a description of the consecutive symptoms of the hoof- 
ail as /have seen them. The hoof, instead of being softened, is percepti- 
bly hardened, I think, by the presence of the disease. There is occasion- 
ally an enlargement about the coronet, but this is not common in the out- 
set; and so far from the horn first separating from the foot at that point, it 
is the last place where it usually adheres when the soles are eaten away 
by the ulcerous matter, and the mere outside shell reinains. I never have 
known a hoof to drop off, entire, in the sense in which 1 understand the 
closing part of Mr. Youatt's remark. 

My first introduction to this disease was by its breaking out in its most 
malignant form in a flock of eight hundred sheep, with which I had placed, 
early in the preceding spring, a few valuable sheep received from abroad 
which were infected with the hoof-ail, without my having the slightest sus- 
picion of the fact. The disease, when of long standing, and well kept un- 
der, shows itself but very little during the winter and spring, unless the 
foot is directly examined. Every sheep in that eight hundred took the 
disease, sometimes first in one foot, then in another, then in a third, and 
when the fourth one was attacked, perhaps it was again bursting out in 
one of the cured feet ! I considered the sheep valuable, had much of the 
esprit du corps of a young flock-master, and was determined, to conquer the 
malady at any cost and at all hazards. I have little doubt that every sheep 
in the flock was " doctored " on the average ten times each, and it was 
very rarely that I permitted any other pjerson than viysclf to cut away the 
horn and prepare the foot <f a single sheej)for tjie application of the reme- 
dies ! When I look back to that period — the sheep on some remote pas- 
tures — not a shed on them to shelter myself or assistants from the burning 
August sun as we bent ten or twelve hours a day over our task — our only 
" operating room" a yard in the corner of two fields — blood and pus en- 
crusting hands and garments, and occasionally by an unlucky stroke of the 
knife showered over face and bosoin — the crawling magg(jts — the intolera- 
ble fetor : — I hardly know whether to take credit to myself for or to laugh 
at the stanchness of my zeal. But, worst of all, with all my labor, I had 

" Bcotch'd the snake, not killed it ! " 

The disease appeared in my flock, though in a much mitigated form, 
the next summer. I think I then cured it — but I was not allowed to es- 
cape thus. In the succeeding summer, accident again brought it among 
my sheep. In a word; I have first and last served a five years' appren- 
ticeship to combating the hoof-ail. Having seen it in every possible phase 
— having experimented with almost every recommended remedy not obvi- 
ously empirical — I shall be excused if I speak my own opinions with a de- 

* As 1 have before Ptnted, when dipcuesing " the mo?t prnfitable breed for the South," the hoof of the Me- 
rino and thiit of the Kn;;Usli I.ony-Woolnd races, isesscnliiilly diffcpnt. 'I'lic hittcrusiially rotidiis its natu- 
ral shape and tliickness, and although the side-crust sometimes turns under, it is but a comiiaratively thin 
slip of horn, which i^ subsequcnily worn or broken otl'— or it is easily removed by the knife. Tlie hoof of 
the Merino c.nivifi r;\\>SiX\y, especially when the nnimnl has the, hiiof ail. The horny soles will sometimes be- 
come nearly an inch thick, and the toes will elongate and turn up in front like horns, to the length of three 
and even four inches. The weight of tlie Merino is much less than that of the I,ong-Wool. Take these 
facts into consideration, together with some of the other circum.stances detailed in the introductory remarks 
to Letter XIV, and perhaps it sufficiently accounts for aome difl'erenccs in the diaguosis of the disease be- 
»weun the two countries. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 268 



gree of confidence, even if they chance to conflict with those of professed 
and eminent veterinarians. 

As all are aware, the horny covering of the sheep's foot extends up 
gradually thinning out, some way hetween the toes or divisions of the hot)f 
and above these horny walls the "cleft" is lined with skin. When the 
points of the toes are spread apart, this skin is shown in front covered 
with short, soft hair. The hack part of the toes, or the " heels," can be sep- 
arated only to a little distance, and the skin in the cleft above them ia 
naked. In a healthy fcwt, the skin throughout the whole cleft is as firm, 
sound, dri/ and uneroded, as on any other part of the animal. 

The first symptom of hoof-ail is a slight erosion, accompanied with in- 
flammation and heat of the naked skin in the hack ixirt of the cleft, imme- 
diately above the heels. The skin assumes a macerated appearance, and 
is kept moist by the presence of a sanious discharge from the ulcerated sur- 
face. As the inflammation extends, the friction of the parts causes pain 
and the sheep limps. At this stage the foot externallj/, in a great ma- 
jority of cases, exhibits not the least trace of disease, with the exception 
of a slight ledness, and sometimes the appearance of a small sore at the 
upper edge of the cleft, when viewed from behind. 

The ulceration of the surface rapidly extends. The thin upper edges 
of the iimer walls of the hoof are disorganized, and an ulceration is estab- 
lished between the hoof and the fleshy sole. A purulent fetid matter is 
exuded from the cavit;y. The extent of the separation daily increases, and 
the ulcers also form sinuses deep into the fleshy sole. The bottom of the 
hoof disappears, eaten away by the acrid matter, and the outer walls, en- 
tirely separated from the flesh, hang only by their attachments at the coro- 
net. The whole fleshy sole is now entirely disorganized, and the entire 
foot is a mass of black, putrid ulceration; or, as it more commonly hap- 
pens, the fly has struck it, and a dense mass of writhing maggots cover the 
Burface, and burrow in every cavity. 1"he fore-feet are generally first at- 
tacked, and most usually but one of ihem. The animal at first manifests 
but little constitutional disturbance. It eats as usual. By the time that 
any considerable disorganization of the structures has taken place in the 
first foot — sometimes sooner — the other fore-foot is attacked. That be- 
coming as lame as the first, the miserable animal seeks its food on ita 
knees, and if forced to rise, its strange, hobbling gait betrays the intense, 
agony occasioned by bringing its feet in contact with the ground. There 
is a bare spot under the brisket of the size of the palm of a man's liand, 
which looks red and inflamed. There is a degree of general fever — and. 
the appetite is dull. The animal rapidly loses condition. The appearance 
of the maggot soon closes the scene. Where the rotten foot is brought in 
contact with the side in lying down, the filthy ulcerous matter adheres to and 
saturates the short wool, (it being but a month and a half or two months af- 
ter shearing,) and maggots are either carried there by the foot, or they, 
are so(m geiierated there. A black crust is soon formed round the spot. 
It is the decomposition of the surrounding structures, and innumerable 
maggots are at work below, burrowing into the integuments and mus- 
cles and eating up the miserable animal alive. The black festering mass 
rapidly spreads, and the poor sufferer perishes, we cannot suppose other- 
wise than in tortures the most excruciating. 

Sometimes but one fore-foot is attacked, and subsequently one or both 
hind ones. There is no uniformity in this particular, and it is a singular 
fact that when two or even three of the feet aie dreadfully diseased, the 
fourth may be entirely sound. So also one foot may be cured, while ev- 
ery other one is laboring under the malady. 



264 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

The highly offensive odor of the ulcerated feet is so peculiar that it is 
strictly pathugnomonic of the disease — and would reveal its character to 
one familiar with it, in the darkest night. 

When the disease has been well kept under during the first season of 
its attack, but not entirely eradicated, it will almost or entirely disappear 
as cold weather approaches, and does not manifest itself until the warm 
weather of the succeeding summer. It then assumes a mitigated form — 
the sheep are not rapidly and simultaneously attacked — there seems to be 
less inflammatory action, constitutionally, and in the diseased parts — the 
course of the disease is less malignant and more tardy, and it more readi- 
ly yields to treatment. If well kept under the second summer, it is still 
milder the third. A sheep will occasionally be seen to limp, but its con- 
dition will scarcely be affected, and dangerous symptoms will rarely su- 
pervene. One or two applications made during the summer, in such a 
way, as I shall presently describe, that one thousand sheep can be sub- 
mitted to the treatment in half a day — with but a trifle of labor and ex- 
pense — will now suffice to keep the disease under. At this point a little 
vigor in the treatment will entirely extinguish the disease. 

With all its fearful array of symptoms, can the hoof-ail be cured in its 
first attack on a flock % The worst case can be promptly cured, as I know 
by repeated experiments. Take a single sheep, put it by itself, and ad- 
minister the remedies daily after the English fashion, or as I shall 
presently prescribe, and there is not an ovine disease which more surely 
yields to treatment. But as already remarked, in a preceding Letter, in 
this couTitry, where sheep are so cheap, and labor in the summer months 
so dear, it would out of the question for an extensive flock-master to at- 
tempt to keep each sheep by itself, or to make a daily application of rem- 
edies. There is not a flock-master within my knowledge who has ever 
pretended to apply his remedies oftener than once a week, or regularly as 
often as that, and not one in ten makes any separation between the dis- 
eased and healthy sheep of a flock into which the malady has been once in- 
introduced. The consequence necessarily is that though you may cure the 
sheep noiv diseased, it has infected or inoculated others — and these in turn 
scatter the contagion, before they are cured. There is not a particle of 
doubt — nay, I know, by repeated observation, that a sheep once entirely 
cured may again contract the disease, and thus the malady performs a per- 
petual circle in the flock. Fortunately, however, the susceptibility to con- 
tract the disease diminishes, according to my observation, with every suc- 
ceeding attack; and fortunately also, as already stated, succeeding attacks, 
ceteris iiaribus, become less and less virulent. 

What course shall then be pursued % Shall the flock-master sacrifice 
his sheep — shall he take the ordinary half-way course — or shall he expend 
more on the sheep than they are worth in attempting to cure them % Nei- 
ther. The course I would advise him to pursue, will appear as I detail 
the experiments I have made. 

Treatment. — The preparation of the foot, where any separate individual 
treatment is resolved upon — and this is always necessary, at least in bad 
cases — is a subject of no dispute. But the labor can be prodigiously 
economized by attention to a few not very commonly observed particulars. 
Sheep should be yarded for the operation immediately after a rain, if prac- 
ticable, as then the hoofs can be readily cut. In a dry time, and after a 
night which has left no dew on the grass, their hoofs are almost as tough 
as horn. They must be driven through no mud, or soft dung, on their 
way to the yard, which would double the labor of cleaning their feet. — 
The yard must be small, so they can be easily caught, and it must be kept 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 265 

well littered down, so they shall not fill their feet with their own excre- 
ment. If the straw is wetted, their hoofs will not of course dry and harden 
as rapidly as in dry straw. Could the yard be built over a shallow, grav- 
elly-bottomed brook,* it would be an admirable arrangement. The hoofs 
would be kept so soft that the greatest and most unpleasant part of the la- 
bor, as ordinarily performed, would be in a great measure saved, and they 
would be kept free from that dung which by any other arrangement will, 
more or less, get into their clefts. 

The principal operator or foreman seats himself in a chair — a couple of 
good knives, a whetstone, the powerful toe-nippers (fig. 21, Letter XII,) 
a bucket of water with a couple of linen rags in it, and such medicines as 
he chooses to employ, within his reach. The assistant catches a sheep and 
lays it partly on its back and rump, between the legs of the foreman, the 
head coming up about to his middle. The assistant then kneels on some 
straw or seats himself on a low stool at the hinder extremity of the sheep. 
If the hoofs are long, and especially if they are dry and tough, the assist- 
ant presents each foot to the foreman, who shortens the hoof with the toe- 
nippers. If there is any filth between the toes, each man takes his rag 
from the bucket of water, and draws it between the toes and rinses it, un- 
til the filth is removed. Each then seize their knives, and the process of 
paring away the horn commences. And on the effectual j^erformance of 
this, all else depends. A glance at the foot will show whether it is the seat 
of the diseased action. The least experience cannot fail in properly set- 
tling this question. An experienced finger, placed on the back of the 
pastern close above the heel, would at once detect the local inflammation 
(by its heat) in the dark. 

If the disease is in the first stage — i.e. there is merely an erosion and ul- 
ceration of the cuticle and flesh in the cleft above the walls of the hoof, no 
paring is necessary. But if ulceration has established itself between the 
hoof and the fleshy sole, the ulcerated parts, be they more or less exten- 
sive, MUST BE ENTIRELY DENUDED OF THEIR HORNY COVERING, COSt wliat it 

may of time and care. It is better not to wound the sole so as to cause it 
to bleed freely, as the running blood will wash off the subsequent applica- 
tion, but no fear of wounding the sole must prevent a full compliance with 
the rule above laid down. At the worst, the blood will stop flowing after 
a little while, during which time no application need be made to the foot. 

If the foot is in the third stage — a mass of rottenness and filled with 
maggots — in the first place pour a little spirits of turpentflie (a bottle of it, 
with a quill through the cork, should be always ready,) on the maggots 
and most of them will immediately decamp, and the others can be re- 
moved with a probe or small stick. Then remove every particle of loose 
Jiorn, though it should take the entire ho(f— and it ivill generally take the 
whole hoof in such cases. The foot should be now cleansed with a solu- 
tion of chloride of lime, in the proportion of one pound of chloride to one 
gallon of water. If this is not at hand, plunging the foot repeatedly in 
water, just short of scalding hot, will answer every purpose. The great 
object is to clean the foot thoroughly. If there are any considerable fun- 
gous granulations, (" proud-flesh,") they should be excised with a pair of 
scissors, or the actual cautery (hot iron.) 

And now comes the important question what constitutes the best remedy 1 
The recommended prescriptions are innumerable. The following are 
some of the most popular ones.t 1. 4 oz. blue vitriol, 2 oz. of verdigi-is. 



* A portion of any little brook might be prepared by planking tbe bottom, and widening it if desirable. 
t The first three are given in the Ameiican Shepherd, pp. 379-80. 

2L 



2©6 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

to a junk- bottle of wine. 2. Spirits turpentine, tar and verdigris in equal 
parts. 3. 3 quarts of alcohol. 1 pint spirits of turpentine, i pint of strong 
vinegar, I lb. blue vitriol, 1 lb. copperas, 1^ lbs. verdigris, 1 lb. alum, 1 lb. 
of saltpetre, pounded fine: mix in a close bottle, shake every day, and let it 
stand six or eight days before using : also mix 2 pounds of honey and 2 
quarts of tar, which must be applied after the previous compound. " Two 
applications will entirely remove the disease," says this recipe, which 
was once, I believe, hawked about the country as a patent cure — being 
sold at live dollars to each purchaser, he giving a promise of inviolable se- 
crecy ! 4. Apply diluted aquafortis (nitric acid) with a feather to the ul^ 
cerated surface. 5. Apply diluted oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) in the 
same way. 6. Same of muriatic acid. 7. Dip the foot in tar nearly at 
the boiling point, &c. 

After a tliorough trial of the above and a multitude of other prescrip- 
tions,* I have come to the conclusion that in the first and second stages of 
the disease — before the ulcers have formed sinuses into the sole, and 
wholly or partly destroyed its sti'ucture — that no application, simple or 
compound, is pi-eferable to a saturated solution of blue vitiiol, (sulphate of 
copper.) In my judgment, no beneficial addition can be made to it as a 
remedy. Of the manner of applying it I shall speak presently. 

Ill the third stage, when the foot is a festering mass of corruption, after 
it has been cleansed as already directed, it requires some strong caustic to 
remove the uidiealthy granulations — the dead muscular structures — and 
to restore healthy action. Lunar caustic I think preferable to any other 
application, but it is too expensive. Mr. Youatt gives a decided prefer- 
ence to chloride of antimony, and I think him correct. This is frequently 
not attainable in the country drug-stores, and muriatic acid may be re- 
sorted to, or even nitric or sulphuric acid. The diseased surface is touched 
with the caustic (applied with a swab formed by fastening a little tow on 
the end of a stick,) until the objects above pointed out are obtained. I 
have then usually treated the foot with the solution of blue vitriol, and sub- 
sequently coated it over with tar which has been boiled, and is properly 
cooled. The last protects the raw wound from dirt, flies, &c. Sheep ia 
this stage of the disease should certaiidy be separated from the main flock, 
and looked to as often as once in three days. With this degree of atten- 
tion, their cure will be rapid, and it is astonishing with what celerity the 
obliterated structures of the foot will be restored. 

The ordinary method of using the solution of blue vitriol is to pour it 
from a botlle with a quill in the cork, into the foot, when the animal lies 
on its back between the operators, as already described. In this way a 
few cents' worth of vitriol will serve for a large number of sheep. But 
the method is impei'fect, because, without remarkable care, there will al- 
most always be some slight ulcerations not uncovered by the knife — the 
passages to them will be devious, and perhaps nearly or quite closed — 
and the solution will not reach them. Thus the disease will only be tem- 
porarily suppressed, not cured. 

I had a flock of sheep a few years since which were in the second sea- 
son of the disease. They had been but little looked to during the sum- 
mer, and as cold weather was setting in, many of them were consid- 
erably lame — some of them quite so. The snow fell and they were brought 
into the yards, limping and hobbling about deplorably. This sight, so dis- 
graceful to me as a farmer, roused me into activity. I bought a quantity 

*Many of them resorted to " against the stomach of my sense," to give myself and others indisputable 
ocular prciof of their inuliliiy — or that they were no better than cheaper, simpler, aud more easily attaia- 
able medicines 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 267 

of blue vitriol — made the necessary arrangements — and once more took 
the chair as principal operator ! Never were the feet of a flock more 
thoroughly pared. Into a large washing tub, in which two sheep could 
stand conveniently, I poured a saturated solution of blue vitiiol and water, 
as liut as could be endured by the hand even for a moment. The liquid was 
about four inches deep on the bottom of the tub, and was kept at about 
that depth by frequent additions oi hot solution. As soon as a sheep's feet 
were pared, it was placed in the tub and held there by the neck, by an as- 
sistant. A second one was prepared and placed beside it. When the 
third one was ready, the Jirst was taken out, and so on. Two sheep were 
thus constantly in the tub, and each remained in it about five minutes. — 
The cure was perfect ! There was not a lame sheep in the flock during 
the winter or the next summer! The hot liquid penetrated to every 
cavity of the foot, and doubtless had a far more decisive effect even on the 
uncovered ulcers, than would have been produced by merely wetting them, 
Perhaps the lateness of the season was also favorable, as in cold weather 
the ulcers of ordinary virulence discharge no matter to inoculate the healthy 
feet, and thus, at the time of applying the remedy, there are no cases where 
there has been inoculation not yet followed by those lesions which admit 
of cure. Whether so thorough a soaking would destroy the virus in the in- 
oculated foot, I cannot pretend to decide. 

I think that the vitriol required for the above one hundred sheep was 
about twelve pounds, and that it cost me fifteen cents per pound. The ac- 
count then would stand thus : 

\-z ili.-'. ,':f vitriol at 15 cents $1,80 

Labor ol 3 men one day each 2,25 

Total $4,05 

or about four cents per sheep. I have not a doubt that three such appli- 
cations at intei'vals of a week, would effectually cure the disease, as every 
new case would be arrested and cured before it had time to inoculate 
others. I have no doubt that it would do this at any time of year, and 
even during the first and most malignant prevalence of the contagion, pro- 
viding THE PARING WAS SUFFICIENTLY THOROUGH. The second and third 
parings would be a mere trifle, and the liquid left at the first and second 
applications could again be used. Thus sheep could be cured at about 
twelve cents per head. This is vastly cheaper in the long run than the 
ordinary temporizing method — wheie people count the cost of a few 
pounds of blue vitriol, but not their time, and who thus keep the disease 
lingering in their flocks for years. Indeed, if partial and temporizing 
treatment is all that is aimed at, — if the flockmaster is content to simply 
keep the disease under — I can point out methods quite as efficacious as 
the common one by paring and apjjlying washes from a bottle — as ordina- 
rily performed — and not costing a tithe as much. 

Between the corners of two sheep-pastures (1, 2, of fig. 69,) construct 
the dividing fence as repi-esented in the cut. A 

narrow passage is thus left from one field to an- ^^^ . 

other. This passage should be about 2 or 2^ feet 
wide and 12 feet long. The fence on each side r 2 

of the passage should be an upright boaid fence, 
so that the space can be entirely filled on the bot- 
tom with a flat trough, (the bottom formed of a 
plank) with side and end boards about five inches 
high. In this trough place say a bushel and a half or two bushels of un. 






Fi<r. 


"0. 
















a 


I 

















268 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

slacked lime,* slack it, and then fill the trough nearly full of watei". — 
Through this drive the flock several times from one field to the other — un- 
til the lame ones manifest much suffering. Repeat this once a week the 
first summer that the disease appears, putting in fresh lime each time. — 
Tliis does not appear to cure the hoof-ail, but it keeps it under ; the sheep 
keep their condition, and show little lameness. The second or third sum- 
mer of the disease, three or four such applications usually answer for the 
entire season. Some use dry slacked lime, as the same trough-full will 
then answer for several applications. The trough in this case must have 
a roof over it. I never have tried the last method. If the dry lime will 
get sufficiently between the toes — and it is said to — it will answer the 
purpose where it touches more effectually than even the liquid, but it 
would not be so likely to penetrate into cavities. Some who use the lime 
remedy, pare the feet once pretty thoroughly prior to the first application, 
but afterward neglect them. Others neglect pai'ing entirely, i. e. beyond 
shortening the toes once a year, as is practiced with all fine-wooled flocks. 

Fig. 70 is an improvement on the 
more common arrangement exhib- 
ited in fig. 69. The dotted lines 
enclose good-sized yards in the cor- 
ners of two adjoining pastures. — 
Two drivers can yard the sheep in 
one of these, and drive the sheep 
from one to the other any number 
of times, without chasing them 
about a large field. The labor can 

therefore be performed much more rapidly, and it requires less force. A 
couple of active fellows would yard and submit a flock of two or three 
hundred sheep to the process in less than an hour. When the sheep are 
first yarded, if there are any very lame ones, draw them out and place 
them in one of the small pens [a, h.) Their feet can be examined, and if 
necessary a little extra pains taken with them, by paring, cauterizing, etc. 
Each sheep as treated is put into the other small pen, where it can be re- 
tained until the flock is discharged, and then removed to a separate pas- 
ture from the others, if considered desirable. 

Wliere two yards are constructed, as in fig. 70, it is obvious that the ar- 
rangement can be made elsewhere as well as in the corner of two fields, 
though if the sheep are wild, it may i-equire a few rods of wing fence (in 
the place of the dividing one between the fields, as seen in figures 69 and 
70,) for the more convenient cornering of the sheep to yard them. Thus 
one such apparatus might be made to conveniently answer for a Avhole 
farm,t]iough thousands of diseased sheep were scattered in different flocks 
over it, and may be placed at a spot where water, etc. are convenient. 

Where lime and water are used, the sheep must be driven through the 
trough slowly and quietly — as otherwise the lime will be scattered over 
their wool, into their eyes, &c. If the lime is fresh burned and highly 
caustic, it would be likely to destroy their eyes. Indeed, pure fresh-burned 
lime sometimes will take the hair off" from their jjastei'ns and shanks. It is 
better, therefore, to use it when somewhat re-carbonized by exposure to 
the air. 

Wood ashes are said to produce the same effect with lime. It is claimed 
that sheep kept on lands where the timber has been recently burned, 
('* new clearings,") will recover from the hoof-ail. Query : If this be true 

* To beaddpd to, from time to time, if the number of sheep run through is large enough to waste it mate- 
rially, before they me eufficienily aeaied. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 269 



might not the lye of ashes, of the proper strength, make an adequate sub 
stitute for lime and water 1 

Some Northern farmers drive their shee2) over dusty roads as a remedy 
for hoof-ail ! Opposed as it would seem to be to sound theory — sadly as 
it is at variance with the practice of foreign veterinarians who em})loy 
" tow-pledgets," " gaiter boots," etc., to exclude all dirt from the diseased 
surface, it does actually seem in cases of ordinary virulence — especially 
where the disease is chronic — to dry up tJie ulcers and keep the maladi/ under! 

There is an important point to be regarded in exhibiting remedies for 
the hoof-ail, the mention of which I have reserved until now, as it concerns 
all remedies equally. Many farmers select rainy weather to " doctor" the 
sheep. Their feet are then soft, and it is therefore on all accounts good 
economy, when the feet are to be pared, and each separately treated, jyro- 
vidcd they can be kept in sheep-houses, or under shelters of any kind, 
until the rain is over and the grass again dry. If immediately let out in 
wet grass of any length, the vitriol or other application is measurably 
washed away. This is avoided by many, by dij)ping the feet in warm tar 
— an excellent plan under such circumstances. The tar is probably a good 
application at any time, but I do not consider it necessary, in ordinary 
cases, unless the sheep must be turned out into wet grass. 

A flock of sheep which have been cured of the hoof-ail, are considered 
more valuable than one which has never had it. They are far less liable 
to contract the disease from any casual exposure — and its i-avages are far 
less violent and general among them. 

I am strongly disposed to believe that hoof-ail is propagated in this 
country only by inoculation — the contact of the matter of a diseased foot 
with the integuments lining the bifurcation of a healthy foot. That it is 
propagated in some of those ways classed under the ordinary designation 
of contagion is certain. I could indisputably authenticate more than a 
hundred cases, where the sheep on a farm, indeed through a neighbor- 
hood, had been notoriously exempt from hoof-ail from the first settlement 
of the country — so that the inhabitants did not even know what the disease 
was — until some diseased flock was introduced from abroad. It was so in 
the region where I live, and I well recollect when a flock of Saxons, driven 
from a neighboring county, first introduced it among our sheep. There 
has not been a diseased flock in the county which could not trace it back 
to that flock. And the contagion wa« spread by them as readily on our 
dry hill-farms as on low and moist ones. 

That it may be propagated by inoculation I know by direct experiment. 
I have placed the matter of diseased feet on the skin lining the cleft of a 
healthy foot under a variety of circumstances — sometimes when that skin 
was in its ordinary and natural state — sometimes after a very slight scari- 
fication — sometimes when macerated by moisture. The disease has been 
communicated under each of these circumstances, and in a majority of all 
the instances, amounting to sixteen or seventeen. 

That there is not even a supposed or pretended case, to my knowledge, 
on record where the disease has originated spontaneously, in the Northern 
States, I have already asserted.* I regard Professor Dick's statements 
of the manner in which the disease originates, which I have quoted,! as 
wholly inapplicable to our country uuth its present breeds of sheep, and I 
cannot sufficiently express my surprise that this eminent veterinarian 
should nave adopted — what I deem so unqualified an absurdity — the non- 
contagion theory. 

I have been disposed to trace the propagation of the disease exclusive- 

*In the beginning of Letter XIV. fib. 



270 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

ly to inoculation, from having observed on my own farm and elsev/here, 
that healthy flocks have occupied with impunity fields adjoining those oc- 
cupied by diseased ones — an open board or rail fence only separating 
them. I have drawn the same inference also from the manner in which 
the disease attacks flocks. The whole, or any considerable number, though 
sometimes rapidly, are never simultaneousl ij attacked, as we should expect 
among animals so gregarious, if the disease could be communicated by 
.simple contact, inhaling the breath or other effluvium. But not having pos- 
itive and demonstrative proof of the correctness of the proposition, I would 
advise no man to incur any risks, unnecessarily, founded on this assump- 
tion, without first satiftft/ing himself on the point. 

The matter of diseased feet is left on grass, straw, and other sul)stances, 
and thus is brought in contact with the inner surfaces of healthy feet. — 
Sheep thei-efore contract the disease from being driven over the pastures, 
yarded on the straw, &c., where diseased sheep have been, perhaps even 
days before. The matter would probably continue to inoculate until dried 
up by the air and heat, or washed away by the rains. The stiff" upright 
stems of closely mown grass (as on meadows,) are almost as well calcu- 
lated to receive the matter of diseased feet, and deposit it in the clefts of 
healthy ones, as any means which could be devised artificially. I do not 
consider it entirelif safe to drive healthy sheep over roads, and especially 
into vxishivg-ijards or sheep-houses, where diseased sheep have been, until 
rain has fallen, or time has elapsed for the matter to dry up. On the 
moist bottom of a washing-yard, and particularly in houses or sheds, kept 
from sun and wind, and rain, this matter might be preserved for some time 
in a condition to inoculate. 

Fouls. — Sheep are much less subject to this disease than cattle, but are 
subject to it if kept in wet, filthy yards, or on moist, poachy ground. It is 
an irritation of the integument in the cleft of the foot, slightly resembles 
incipient hoof-ail, and produces lameness. But it produces no serious 
structural disorganization — disappears without treatment — is not con- 
tagious — and appears in the wet weather of spring and fall, instead of the 
dry, hot period of summer when the hoof-ail rages most. A little solution 
of blue vitriol, or a little spirits of turpentine, either followed by a coat- 
ing of warm tar, promptly cures it. 

Goitre or Bronchocele. — I never have seen this classec*! among the 
diseases of sheep, but the " swelled neck " in lambs is, like the goitre, an 
enlargement of the thyroid glands, and it is strikingly analogous tt>, if not 
identical with, that disease. It is congenital. The glands at birth are from 
the size of a pigeon's to that of a hen's egg — though more elongated and 
flattened than an eg^^ in their form. The lamb is exceedingly feeble, 
and often perishes almost without an eff"ort to suck. Many even make no 
effV)rt to lise, and die as soon as they are dropped. It is rare that one lives 
— though three or four years since, a lamb in my flock having one of the 
thyroid glands enlarged, grew up a large, healthy sheep. At a year old, 
•when disposed of, the enlarged gland was of the size of a goose-eo^g. 

No inconsiderable number of lambs atmually perish from this disease. — 
It does not appear to be an epizootic, though I think it more prevalent 
some seasons than others. It does not seem to depend upon the water, or 
any other natural circumstances of a region, (as goitre is usually supposed 
to,) as it ni ly not prevail in the same flock or on the same farm once in 
ten years. 1 never have been able to trace it to any particular kind of 
food. That when it does appear, it is induced by some common local or 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 271 

alimentary cause, I am induced to infer from the fact that its attacks are 
rarely isolated. When there are any instances of it in a flock, there are 
usually a number of them. I have lost lambs by it two seasons — 
from six to ten per cent, of the whole number. Francis Rotch, Esq. of 
Louisville, Otsego county, lost a much heavier per centage than this (my 
impression would now be nearly^??/ per cent.) of his choice South-Down 
lambs, a few years since. I am acquainted with various other instances 
where the loss has ranged from ten to twenty per centum. 

When congenital goitre has thus appeared among my lambs, the ewes 
liai'^e been in vmisvally high condition. The same was true of Mr. Rotch's 
ewes, as he wrote me at the time. Whether this coexistence im]ilies caus- 
ality, I do not pretend to decide. High condition in the ewe may be one 
of the inducing causes. 

Treatment. — I know of no treatment which will reach the case. Indeed, 
the lamb is dying, almost, when born — and remedies are out of the ques- 
tion. Should one having the disease chance to live, it would .scarcely be 
worth while to attempt reducing the enlargements of the glands. Perhaps 
keeping the breeding ewes uniformly in fair, plump, but not 7i?^A condi- 
tion, would be as effectual a preventive as any. 

MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES. 

Poison from Eating Laurel. — T often hear of this from our drovers, 
who take sheep in the spring to the Philadelphia and New-Jersey mar- 
kets, through Northern Pennsylvania, on the Old Red Sandstone formation 
of which the beautiful Kalmia angustifolia is abundant. The following 
description of the effects on the sheep of eating this plant, and the proper 
remedial treatment, though, I confess, not very satisfactory to me, I ex- 
tract entire from the " American Shepherd," * as I have no experience 
whatever in the premises, and no better account within my reach : 

" Slieep and calves will often, in the winter or spring of the year, eat greedily of the 
low Laurel (Kalmia angnsfifolia). The animal appears to be dull and stupid, swells a 
little, and is constantly gulping up a greenish fluid which it swallows down ; a part of it 
will trickle out of its mouth, and discolor its lips. The plant probably brings on a femienta- 
tion in the stomach, and Nature endeavors to throw oflf the poison herb by retching or 
vomiting. 

Treatment. — In the early stages, if the greenish fluid be suffered to escape from the 
stomach, the animal most generally recovers. To effect this, gag the sheep, which may be 
done in this manner : Take a stick of the size of your wrist and six inches long — place it in 
the animal's mouth — tie a siring to one end of it. pass it over the head and down to the other 
end, and there make it fast. The flnid will then run from the mouth as fast as thrown up 
from the stomach. In addition to this, give roasted onions and sweetened milk freely." 

I have somewhere, I think, seen drenches of milk and castor-oil pre- 
scribed for sheep poisoned with laurel ; and I should, without farther 
knowledge of the subject, consider it treatment jjromising better results 
than the preceding. 

Sore Face. — Sheep feeding on pastures infested with John's wort 
( Hypericum i^erforatmn) not unfrequently exhibit an irritation of the skin 
about the nose and face, which causes the hair to drop off from the parts. 
The irritation sometimes extends over the whole body, though no such 
case has fallen under my observation. Mr. Morrel says : t "If eaten in 
too large quantities, it produces violent inflammation of the bowels, and is 
frequently fatal to lambs, and sometimes to adults. " 

Treatment — Rub a little sulphur and lard on the irritated surface. If 
there are symptoms of inflammation of the bowels, Mr. Morrell ju'escribes 

* American Shepherd, p. 3G1. t lb. 374. 



272 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

tar — " putting it into the mouth of the sheep with a flattened stick." 
Abundance of salt is consideied, and probably truly, a preventive. I 
have a sheep pasture considerably infested with this difficultly extermi- 
nated weed, and I do not recollect an instance of a sheep exhibiting the 
effects of eating it, in several years. It is certain that my sheep have 
plenty of salt, whether this is the preventive or not. 

Sore Mouth. — The lips of sheep sometimes become suddenly sore in 
the winter, and swell to the thickness of a man's hand. The malady 
occasionally attacks whole flocks, and becomes quite fatal. No cases of 
it havino- been brought under my observation, I am unable to state 
Avhether, in accordance with the popular description, the lesions are con- 
fined to the lips. I should presume not. It is usually attributed to 
noxious weeds cut with the hay. 

Treatment. — Mr. Morrell states that he has had the disease in his flock, 
and has cured it immediately by smearing the diseased lips with tar.* 

Loss OF Cud. — The " loss of the cud" ranks as an important disease in 
the nosology of the " Cattle Doctor," and frequently calls forth all the skill 
of that functionary to manufacture a new cud, which is placed in the 
mouth of the animal as a substitute for the one which was lost! That 
person must be little versed in the physiology of ruminants who needs to 
be told that the accidental loss of one of the cuds, in the process of re- 
mastication, would be a matter of no sort of consequence. The sheep, 
as well as the cow, not unfrenHently nearly or entirely ceases to ruminate, 
but this is the result, not the cause, of disease. It is' diagnostic of all 
important diseases, and when observed, its warning should never go un- 
heeded. 

Hoove. — This is not common, to any dangerous degree, among sheep, 
but if turned upon clover when their stomachs are empty, it will some- 
times ensue. It is a distention of the paunch by gas extricated fi'om 
the fermentation of its vegetable contents, and evolved more rapidly, or in 
larger quantities, than can be neutralized by the natural alkaline secretions 
of the stomach. When the distention is great, the blood is prevented 
from circulating in the vessels of the rumen, and is determined to the 
head. The diaphragm is mechanically obstructed from making its ordi- 
nary contractions, and respiration, therefore, becomes difficult and imper- 
fect. Death soon supervenes. In ordinary cases, gentle but prolonged 
driving will effect a cure. Where the animal appears swelled almost to 
bursting, and is disinclined to move, it is better to at once open the 
paunch. At the most protuberant point of the swelling, on the left side, 
a little below the hip bone, plunge a trochar or knife, sharp at the point 
and dull on the edge, into the stomach. The gas will rapidly escape, car- 
rying with it some of the liquid and solid contents of the stomach. If no 
measures are taken to prevent it, the peristaltic motion, as well as the 
collapse of the stomach, will soon cause the orifices through the abdomen 
and paunch not to coincide, and thus portions of the contents of the former 
will escape into the cavity of the latter. However perfect the cure of 
hoove, these substances in the belly will ultimately produce fatal irritation. 
To prevent this, a canula or little tube should be inserted through both 
orifices as soon as the puncture is made. Where the case is not imminent, 
alkalies have been sometimes successfully administered, which combine 

* Americnn Shepherd, p. 375. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 273 



with the carbonic acid gas, and thus at once reduce its volume. A flexi- 
ble probang — or, in default of it, a rattan or grape-vine — with a knob on 
the end, may be gently forced down the gullet, and thus the gas permitted 
to escape. 

Obstruction of the Gullet, or " Choking." — After pouring a little 
oil in the throat, the obstructing substance can be frequently moved up or 
down by external manipulation. If not, it may usually be forced down 
with a flexible rod, the head of which is guarded by a knob or a little bag 
of flax-seed. The latter having been dipped in hot water for a minute or 
two, is partly converted into mucilage, which constantly exudes through 
the cloth, and protects the oesophagus from laceration. But little force 
must be used, and the whole operation conducted with the utmost care 
and gentleness, or the oesophagus will be so far lacerated as to pi'oduce 
death, although the obstruction is removed. 

Fractures. — Of these Mr. Blacklock concisely says : 

" If there be no wound of the soft parts, the bone being simply broken, the ti-eatment is 
extremely easy. Apply a piece of wet leather, taking care to ease the hmb when swelling 
supervenes. When the swelling is considerable, and fever present, you can do no better 
than open a vein of the head or neck, allowing a quantity of blood to escape, proportioned 
to the size and condition of the animal, and the urgency of the symptoms! Purgatives in 
such cases should never be neglected. Epsom salts, in ounce doses, given either as a gruel 
or a drench, will be found to answer the purpose well. If the broken bones are kept 
steady, the cure will be complete in from three to four weeks, the process of reunion always 
proceeding faster in a young riian in an old sheep. Should the soft parts be injured to any 
extent, or the ends of the bone protruding, recovery is very uncertain, and it will become a 
question whether it would not be better at once to convert the animal into mutton. " 



TREATMENT. 

Method op Administering Medicine into the Stomach. — The 
stomach into which we wish to administer medicines, is the fourth, or 
digesting stomach. The comparatively insensible walls of the rumen are 
but slightly acted upon, excepting by doses of very improper magnitude. 
For the reasons given when the course of the food through the stomachs 
was described, medicine to reach the fourth stomach should be given in a 
state as near approaching fluidity as may be. And even then it may be 
given in sucli a manner as to defeat our object. Mr. Youatt says : 

" If the animal forcibly gulps fluids down, or if they are given hastily and bodily by the 
medical attendant, they vdll fall on the canal at the base of the gullet with considerable 
momentum, and force asunder the pillars and enter the rumen ; if they are drank more 
Blowly, or administered gently, they will trickle down the throat and glide over these 
pillars, and pass on through the maniplus to the true stomach. " 

Method of Bleeding. — Bleeding from the ears or tail, as is commonly 
practised, rarely extracts a quantity of blood sufficient to do any good 
where bleeding is indicated. To bleed from the eye-vein, the point of a 
knife is usually inserted near the lower extremity of the pouch below the 
eye, pressed down, and then a cut made inward toward the middle of 
the face. Daubenton recommends bleeding from the angular or cheek 
vein, 

" in the lower part of the cheek, at the spot where the root of the fourth tooth is 

placed, which is the thickest part of the cheek, and is marked on the external surface of the 
bone of the upper jaw by a tubercle, sufficiently prominent to be very sensible to the 
finger when the skin of the cheek is touched. This tubercle is a certain index to the 

angular vein which is placed below The shepherd takes the sheep between his 

legs ; his left hand more advanced than his right, which he places under the head, and grasps 

2M 



274 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

the under jaw near to the hinder extremity, in order to press the angular vein, wluch passes 
in that placR, to make it swell ; he touches the right cheek at the spot nearly ecpiidistant 
from the eye and mouth, and there finds the tubercle wliich is to ^uide him, and also feels 
the angular vein swelled below this tubercle ; he then makes the incision from below 
upward, half a finger's breadth below the middle of the tubercle." ' 

When the vein is no longer pressed upon, the bleeding will ordinarily 
cease. If not, a pin may be passed through the lips of the orifice, and a 
lock of wool tied round them 

For thorough bleeding, the jugular vein is generally to be prefen-ed. 
The sheep should be firmly held by the head by an assistant, and the body 
confined between his knees, with its rump against a wall. Some of the 
wool is then cut away from the middle of the neck over the jugular vein, 
and a lio-ature, brought in contact with the neck by opening the wool, is 
tied around it below the shorn spot near the shoulder. The vein will soon 
rise. The orifice may be secured, after bleeding, as described in the pre- 
ceding method. 

As once before remarked, the good effects of bleeding depend almost 
as much on the rapidity with which the blood is abstracted, as on the 
amount taken. This is especially true in acute disorders. Blacklock 
tersely remarks : " Either bleed rajndly or bleed not at all." The orifice 
in the vein, therefore, should be of some length, and I need not inform 
the least experienced practitioner that it should be made lengthwise with 
the vein. A lancet is by far the best implement, and even a short-pointed 
penknife is preferable to the bungling fleam. 

Another important rule in venesection is that, where indicated at all, it 
should always be resorted to as nearly as possible to the commencement of 
the malady. 

The amount of blood drawn should never be determined by admeasure- 
ment, but by constitutional effect — the lowering of the pulse, and indica- 
tions of weakness. In urgent cases as, for example, apoplexy or cerebral 
inflammation, it would be proper to bleed until the sheep staggers or 
falls. 

The amount of blood in the sheep is less, in comparison, than that in 
the horse or ox. The blood of the horse constitutes about one-eighteenth 
part of his weight, that of the ox at least one-twentieth, while the sheep, 
in ordinary condition, is one-twenty-second. For this reason, we should 
be more cautious in bleeding the latter, especially in frequently resorting 
to it. Otherwise, the vital powers will be rapidly and fatally prostrated. 
Many a sheep is destroyed by bleeding freely in disorders not requiring 
it, and in disorders which did require it at the commencement, but of 
which the inflammatory stage has passed. 

The Place of Feeling the Pulse. — The number of pulsations can be 
determined by feeling the heart beat on the left side. The femoral 
artery passes in an oblique direction across the inside of the thigh, and 
about the middle of the thigh its pulsations and the character of the pulse 
can be most readily noted. The pulsations per minute in a healthy adult 
sheep are set down by Gasparin at 65, by Youatt at 70, and by Hurtrel 
d'Arboval at 75. My own observations accord most nearly with those of 
Gasparin. 

LIST OF MEDICINES EMPLOYED IN TREATING THE DISEASES OF SHEEP. 

Ale. — In cases of debility, unaccompanied vdth fever, a small amount 
.of ale is sometimes found a good stimulant. It may be given to feeble 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 275 

sheep which have become unable to stand from having been too lonjj cast 
— especially if they have laid on the snow, or on damp cold ground. It 
is sometimes given in addition to other medicine, in the place of the ordi- 
nary stimulants. 

Aloes — Are occasionally used as a purgative in sheep medicine by 
farmers, but their use is justly condemned by all veterinarians. 

Alum — Used as an astringent, but is inferior to many others. 

Antimony (The chlo'ide or hutyr of) — the best caustic to remove fun- 
gous granulations, dead muscular structures, etc., in the last and worst 
stage of hoof-ail — applied with a swab or feather. 

Arsenic — Employed in the proportion of half a pound to twelve (Gal- 
lons of water, to cure scab. An infusion of it is also used to kill ticks, &c. 
From its liability to adhere to vessels, or to come in contact with sub- 
stances which may be subsequently eaten, it is a dangerous remedy, and 
one which I would never have employed on my farm. 

Blue-Vitriol (Sulphate of Copper) — Used internally as a strong tonic, 
but inferior to others. Dissolved in hot water, and applied to morbid 
sores, an astringent, alterative, and mild caustic, of the most admirable 
character. It is superior to all other applications in ordinary cases of 
hoof-ail. 

Camphor — Used with oil as an external stimulant on swellings, &c. 

Carraway-Seeds — Given favorably in doses of two or three drachms, 
as a stomachic with other medicines. 

Catechu — A valuable astringent, in doses of half a drachm. It is one 
of the ingredients of the celebrated " sheep's cordial," spoken of under 
the head of " diarrhea. " 

Chalk, Prepared, by its alkaline properties, neutralizes the acidity of 
the stomach, and thus checks diarrhea. It is a very valuable remedy in 
doses from half an ounce to an ounce, exhibited as dii-ected under the 
head of " diarrhea. " 

Corrosive Sublimate (Bl-chloride of Mercury) — The most convenient 
form in which mercury can be exhibited internally. The proto-chlo?-ide, or 
calomel, from its great gravity, could not, with any certainty, be made to 
reach the fourth stomach. It would seem that mercury should be a use- 
ful remedy in several of the diseases of sheep. I have administered it 
only in the cases specified under the head of " malignant epizootic 
catarrh," and then apparently with some benefit. It would be well if a 
series of careful expeiiments could be instituted of its value in the appro- 
priate ovine diseases. It is very little used by veterinariaus, in this coun- 
try or Europe. A solution of corrosive sublimate is used for the destruc- 
tion of ticks, &c., and sometimes as a wash in the scab, but its use for 
these purposes is liable to the sarhe objections with that of arsenic. 

Digitalis (Foxglove ) — A sedative employed in most of the fever 
medicines of the English veterinarians. Dose, one scruple. 

Epsom Salts (Sulphate of Magnesia) — In doses fi-om half an ounce 
to one, and in some few cases two ounces, the best purgative which can, 
in almost every disease, be administered to sheep. 

Gentian — Decidedly the best vegetable tonic in use. Dose, from one 
to two drachms. 

Ginger — A stomachic and tonic, given with almost every aperient, in 
doses of from half a drachjn to a drachm. It prevents griping. 

Iodine. — The hydriodate of potash in the proportion of one part to 



276 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

seven or eight parts, by weight, of lard, constitutes an ointment which is 
a powerful stimulant to the absorbent vessels, and therefore is an excellent 
application to glandular swellings, or to indurated tumors. It is a good 
application to the swelled udder (q. v. J in garget. 

Laud — A mild and gentle purgative in doses of two ounces. The basis 
of most ointments, and applied externally in almost evei-y case as an 
emollient and lubricant in the place of oils. 

Lime, Carbonate of- — Used as a caustic to run flocks of sheep through, 
in the " hoof-ail," quem vide. 

Lime, Chloride of- — An excellent antiseptic and disinfectant, and a good 
application to foul ulcers. 

Linseed-Oil — A good purgative in two ounce doses. Preferable to 
Epsom salts in cases of great intestinal irritation, but not otherwise. 

Mercury. — The common mercurial ointment, rubbed down with five 
parts of lard, for severe cases, and seven parts for ordinary cases, ot scab, 
is an effectual cure, 

Muriatic Acid (Spirit of Salt J — Next to chloride of antimony, the best 
caustic in the worst stage of hoof-ail. 

Nitrate of Potash (Nitre or Saltpetre) — In doses one drachm, a 
cooling diuretic. 

Nitrate of Silver (Lunar CatisticJ — Superior to all other caustics, but 
too expensive for general use. For poisonous wounds, and particularly 
for the bite of a mad dog, it has no substitute. 

Nitric Acid (Aquafortis) — Sometimes used as a substitute for chloride 
of antimony, or muriatic acid, as a caustic in hoof-ail. Used by drovers, 
also, to harden the soles of feet which have become thin and tender by 
driving. It is touched over the sole with a feather. 

Opium — An invaluable sedative, and anti-spasmodic, and is employed in 
nearly all prescriptions for diarrhea and dysentary, and also in colic drinks. 
It is an important part of the " sheeps cordial." It is commonly used in 
the form of a tincture, or laudanum. Dose, one drachm. 

Pepper, Black — Given in small quantities in milk, to new-born lambs, 
when chilled. 

Pimento (Allspice) — A substitute for ginger, in the same doses, but not 
so valuable. 

Rhubarb — Unites the properties of a cathartic and subsequent astrin- 
gent. In small doses it is a tonic and stomachic, invigorating the diges- 
tion. When the bowels are relaxed and torpid, and the stomach in a 
feeble state, it would seem the most appropriate purgative, when a purga- 
tive is indicated. 

Salt (Muriate of Soda) — An ounce constitutes a purgative ; in small 
quantities a tonic and stomachic. The necessity of keeping sheep freely 
supplied with salt has been referred to under Summer and Winter Man- 
agement. 

Sulphate of Iron (Copperas, or Green Vitriol) — Used in washes for 
the hoof-ail, but superseded by sulphate of copper. Internally, a tonic. 

Sulphur, Flotoer of — In doses of fi-om one to two ounces, a good 
aperient. It is the basis of various ointments. 

Sulphuric Acid (Oil of Vitriol) — A powerful caustic, used as a sub- 
stitute for the acids already alluded to, in the worst stage of hoof-ail. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 277 

Spirit of Tar — Destroys maggots, and repels the attack of flies. Flies 
will not approach a part over which it has been smeared. 

Tar — Is a valuable application to the feet, nose, back of the horns, &c., 
under the various circumstances detailed in Summer Management, and in 
the treatment of grub in the head, hoof-ail, &c. 

Tobacco — An infusion of it destroys vermin, and also is a cure for 
scab, quern vide. 

Turpentine, Spirits of- — Prevents the attack of flies, and drives away 
maggots. It is a useful application to old sores, wounds, &c. 

Verdigris (Acetate of Copper) — Used in hoof-ail ; but adds nothing, I 
think, to the good effects of the sulphate of copper. 

Zinc, Carbonate of — Mixed with lard, constitutes a valuable emollient 
and healing ointment. It is mixed in the proportion of one part of the 
carbonate, by weight, to eight of the lard. 



278 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER XVII. 

SHEEP DOGS. WOOL DEPOTS, &c. 

The eBtimation in which dogs have been held by different nations, &c...The Sheep-Dog — Biiffon's 
description of him. ..The ^jjHnish Sheep-Hog — Oiigin — Introduction into the United States— Value — 
Arrogante — hi^i history .. .The Hungarian r^lieeii-Hog — Mr. Caget's dt'scription of — probable origin— I he 
Mexican -heep-Doi — Mr. Lyman's description of — Mr. Kendall's. ..Soutii American '^heep-Dogs- Dar- 
win's description of. ..The Knglish Sheep-Dog — Mr. (iates's description of. ..Mr. Colman's.. . I he Scotch 
("heep-l'og— Mr. Hoga's account of.. Mr. Heters's. ..Necessity of accustoming r^heep to a dog. ..Wool 
Depots — ^'r, Klanchnrd's account of their oriiiin — Letter from Mr. Peter.-;, describing their object, methods 
of doing business, and advantaizes — Utihly of these depots — their especial utility to the South. . .A correc- 
tion — >Ir. Kultin. . .Note in relation to Auetrulia- Statistics of its Wool Trade brought down to 1810. 

Dear Sir : — In all ages of the woild, and among nearly all nations, 
savage and civilized,* the dog has been the friend and cherished com- 
panion of man. The Egyptians placed him among their gods. The 
Greeks held him in the highest estimation. His figure mingles with that 
of warriors and demi-gods on their friezes; and Argus, the dog of 
Ulysses, lives as immortal in the Odyssey, {vide Book XVI1.,2>. 344 to 400) 
as his sagacious master, or the faithful Penelope. Alexander the Great 
founded a city in honor of a dog ! The Romans treated him with similar 
respect. His skin covered the statues of the sacred Lares; his figure, as 
the emblem of care and vigilance, stood at the feet of these household 
gods — venerated and loved as the tutelary manes of departed ancestors. 
Horace in his Ode to Cassius Severus [Booh V., Ode VI.,) compares him- 
self to the Molossian, or the tawny Spartan dog, which defends the flocks, 
and with ears erect, pursues the wild beast through the deep snows. Virgil, 
in the delightful Georgics, admonishes the Roman shepherds not to neglect 
the care of their dogs : 

"Nee tibi cura canum fuerit postrema : sed nn4 
Veloces Spartaa catulos, acremque Molossum, 
Pasce sero pingtii : nunquam, custodihus illis, 
Nocturnum stabulis furem, incursusquc luporum, 
Aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Iberos. " 

[Georg. Liber III., commencing at line 404. 

Thus translated by Sotheby : 

Nor slight thy dogs ; on whey the mai^tiffs feed, 
Molofsiin race, and hounds of Spartan breed ; 
Beneath their care, nor wolves, nor thieves by night, 
Nor wild Iberian shall thy fear excite. 

These " Spartan hounds, " I may remark, par parenthesis, are the ones 
spoken of by Shakspeare, in that glorious description of the music of a 
pack in full cry, and of the points of a hound, in Midsu?nmer-N/ght's 
Dream : 

Hippolita. — I was with Hercules, and Cadmu', once. 

When in a wood of Ciete they bayed the bear 
Witli hounds of Sparta : never did I hear 
Such gallant chiding ; for, besides the groves, 
The skies, the fountains, every region near 
Seemed all one mutual cry : I never heard 
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder. 

Theseus — My hounds are bred out of the Spartan hind, 

.■^i) Hewed, so sanded; and iheir heads are hung 
Witb oars that sweep away the morning dew ; 
Crook -kneed, and dew-lapped, like Thessalian bulls; 
Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells, 
Each under each. A cry more tunable 
Was never hallo'd to, nor cheered with horn, 
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly. 

* The only exceptions whic'i now occur to me are the Jews, the Hindoos, and the Mahommedan nations 
and tribes. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 279 



Anian, THny, Oppian, ^lian, and a host of other writers of the Empire, 
descant on the praises of the dog, or give anecdotes of his courage, 
strength, and fidelity. 

In the chivah-ic ages, he was the companion of knights and-priiices the 

80ul of the manly field-sports of those times. Even prelates followed him 
to the chase. The abbots of St. Hubert bred a celebrated race of hounds. 
St. Hubert himself, St. Eustace, and many others on the canonized calen- 
dar, were keen hunters. " Whemqwn, " says the author of the " Noble 
Art of Venerie," &c., published in 1611, "ice viay conceive that {hy the 
grace of God) all good huvtsmcn shall follow them into Paradise ! " Truly, 
a consoling religious seguitur ! 

Scott, in his beautifully descriptive poetry, and still more poetical prose, 
has given us a whf)]e picture gallery of dogs, from the Middle Ages down. 
The i^w which start up first in memory, (in my memory,) because, proba- 
bly, linked with the most interesting associntions, are Fangs — a fenuine 
Saxon — gaunt and unkempt, but stanch as his master, Gurth, the son of 
Beowulph ; the noble hound of Sir Kenneth; the "two dogs of black 
Saint Hubert's breed," that with Fitz-James pursued their quarry into the 
wild pass of the Trosachs ; the faithful little terrier, which, 

"on thp dark brow of the mighty HclU'ellyn, 

The rauch-Ioved remains of her master defended, 
And chased the hill fox and the raven away ; " 

and last, not least. Hector Mclntyre's bitch Juno, which stole the butter, 
and broke the "lachramatory from Clochmaben," of the glorious old 
Antiquary. They stand out on the canvas like Landseer's pictures. We 
pause to hear them hark ! It has often occurred to me that Scott omitted 
a fine opportunity, indeed, made a hiatus vale deflendus, in not introducing 
one or more of the Alpine spaniels — or dogs of Mount St. Bernard — into 
his Anne of Geierstein, providing it could be done, (on which point I am 
uninstructed,) without a violent anachronisin. When Arthur clung dizzy 
and stupefied to the trunk of the tiee which hung over the beetling verge 
of the precipice — when the cry of the Swiss maiden announced approach- 
ing succor, should it not have had for its accompaniment the baying of 
one of those great dogs of the Alps — the deep and far-heard reverbera- 
tions of which so often calls help to the perishing traveler, for miles, 
through the howling storm 1 Should not the dog of Donnerhugel, on the 
night-watch of Graffs-lust, have been of the same breed — huge, shaggy, and 
daring as himself? The portrait of Barry, a Bernardino dog Avhich saved 
the lives of forty persons, and finally perished in an avalanche in guid- 
ing some travelers to St. Pierre, is to be found in every piint-shop. It 
represents him carrying a child on his shoulders — cliriging by his shaggy 
hair, — which he found in the Glacier of Balsore, and rescued from 
approaching death. 

Scott is not the only modem poet who has admired and sung the praises 
of the dog. And I do not recollect the instance of one, who has mentioned 
him, that is, the well-bred dog, who has not praised him, except Byron 
in these moody lines : 

" Perchance my doa: will whine in vain. 

Till f«d by stranger hands; 
But long ere I come back again 
Would tear me where he stands. " 

In his epitaph on his Newfoundland dog, the noble poet retracted this 
ungenerous libel, and pays one of the warmest tributes to the fidelity of 
the dog, on record. 

Volumes of anecdotes of canine sagacity might be easily compiled. 



280 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



Reasoning powers the dog undoubtedly possesses, quite on a par with 
ordinary humanity, if we may beheve scoies of these writers. But it is 
probable that the grandsires of some of them " drew good lovg-ho%o,i at 
Hastings," and they, like Hubert, may lay claim to a hereditaxy knowledge 
of the weapon. It is to be feared that dog-stories will soon be sunk to a 
par with fish-stories f The truth is, the dog knows enough, and there are 
authenticated cases enough of his wonderful sagacity, without having an 
air of disci'edit thrown over the whole of them, by fanciful exaggera- 
ti<ms. 

The comparative intelligence, and the comparative value to man, of the 
different species of the dog, would be very diflerently estimated by those 
who have been placed in situations to be particularly benefited by the 
peculiar instincts of this race or that. Nearly every species has some 
traits, some uses, where it is unequaled by the others ; and each in its 
place is valuable. I do not, however, mean these remarks, or any others 
which I have made in favor of the dog, to apply to the mongrel tribe of 
curs. That there have been valuable individuals from this disreputable 
stock, all must admit ; but the miserable, cowardly and thievish character 
of the mass of them has been proverbial in all time. Far too many of 
them are kept by our farmers in the place of noble and serviceable animals 
and multitudes of them, owned by idlers and vagabonds, infest the country 
and do ten times more mischief to our flocks than diseases and beasts of 
prey- 

The Sheep-Dog. — Buffon thus eloquently describes the sheep-dog,* and 
compares his sagacity and value to man, with other racest : 

" This animal, faithful to Man, will always preserve a portion of his empire and a de^rrep 
of superiority over other beinijs. He reigns at the head of his flock, and makes himself bettei 
understood than the voice of the shepherd. Safety, order, and disciphne are the fruits of 
his vigilance and animal. They aio a people submitted to his management, whom he con- 
ducts and protects, and against whom he never applies force but for the preservation of good 
order. ... If we consider that this animal, notwithstanding his ugliness, and his wild 
and melancholy look, is superior in instinct to all others ; that he has a decided character in 
which education has comparatively little share ; tliat he is the only animal born perfectly 
trained for the service of others ; that, guided by natural powers alone, he applies liimself to 
the care of our flocks, a duty which he executes with singular assiduity, vigilance, and fidel- 
ity ; that he conducts them with an admirable intelligence, which is a part and portion ol 
himself; that his sagacity astonishes at the same time that it gives repose to his master, 
while it requires great time and trouble to instruct other dogs for the purposes to which they 
are destined ; if we reflect on these facts, we shall be confirmed in the opinion that the 
shepherd's dog is the true dog of Nature, the stock and model of the whole species." 

I shall call attention to but a few of the most distinguished varieties of 
the sheep-dog. 

The Spanish Sheep-Dog. — Of the origin of this celebrated race, I do 
not recollect to have seen anything. I have observed them several times 
spoken of, latterly, in newspapers and agricultural publications, as the 
same variety with the Alpine Spaniel, or Bernardine dog. This, I think, 
must be an error, though there may be a general resemblance between 
the two species. Arrogante, on the next page, though a dog of pro- 
digious power, decidedly kicks the massive proportions, both in body 
and limbs, of several Bernardine dogs, which 1 have seen, of unquestiona- 



* I stRted nenr the close of Letter V. that there are no ehepherd docs large and powerful enough to en- 
counter and kill wolves and vagrant dou;s. except the great Sheep. dog of Spain, and that he is so ferocious 
thRt he might frequently bring his owner into difficulty, and even endanger human life. — I was mistaken. 
Crosses between this and other species seems to have mitigated the ferocity of the Spanish dog, and still 
left it within the power of two to overcome a wolf, ae will appear ftom what follows. 

♦ ButJon's Natural History, vol. v., pp. 306, 318. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



281 



ble lineage. The temper and disposition of the two species, too, seems to 
me to be essentially different. 

Mr. Trimmer, and various other foreign writers, speak in warm terms 
of the value of the Spanish sheep-dog, for guarding the mis^ratory flocks 
of that country from the attacks of wolves — staying behind to protect fee- 
ble and lagging sheep, &c. In the Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Agricul- 
tural Society, there is a communication from the well-known John Hare 
Powell, Esq., of Philadelphia, from which the following are extracts : 

" The first importations of Merino sheep were accompanied by some of the lar<Je and 
powerful dogs of Spain, possesMug all the valuable cliaractei-istics of the Eiighsh shepherd's 

dog, with sagacity, fidelity and strength j)eculiar to themselves Their ferocity, when. 

aroused by any intruder, their attachment to their own flock, and devotion to their master 
wouhl. in the uncultivated parts of America, make them an acquisition of infinite value, by 
aftbrding a defence against wolves, which ihey readily kill, and vagiant cur dogs, by which 
our flocks are often destroyed. The force of their instinctive attachment to shee[), and their 
resolution in attacking every dog which passes near to their charge, have been forcibly 
evinced upon my farm." 

Fig. 71. 




o.vLA-10 SO .^-.:j:;^^ 



AKKOGANTE A SPANISH SHKEP-DOG. 

Arrogante, whose portrait is above given with admirable fidelity, was 
imported from Spain with a flock of Merinos, a number of years since, by 
a gentleman residing near Bristol, England. His subsequent owner, 
Francis Rotch, Esq., of this State, thus describes him in a letter to me, 
which, though not intended for publication, I will venture to make a iew 
extracts from : 

'• I have, as you desired, made you a sketch of the Spanish sheep-dog Arrogante, and a 
villainous looking rascal he is. A worse countenance I hardly ever saw on a doe ! His 
email blood-shot eyes, set close together, give him that sinister, wolfish look, which is most 
unattractive ; but his countenance is indicative of his character. There was nothing affec- 
tionate or joyous about him. He never forgave an injury or an insult: offend him. and it 
was for life. I have often been struck with his resemblance to his nation. He was proud 
and reserved in the extreme, but not quarrelsome. Every little cur would fly out at hiin 
as at some strange animal; and I have seen them fasten for a moment on his heavy, bushy tail, 
ID, never breaking his long, ' loping,' shambling trot. Once I saw him 
2N 



and yet he would stride on, 



282 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

turn, and the reti-ibiition was awful ! It was npon a large, powerful mastiff' we kept as a 
night-jjuard in the Bank. He then put forflj his stiength, which proved trtinendous ! His 
coat hung about him in thick, loose, matted liilds, dirty and nncaied-ibr, — so that I jiresumo 
a dog never got liold of anything about him deeper than his thick, tough skin, which was 
twice too large to fit him anywhere, and especially around the neck and sh'julders. The 
only other evidence of his uncommon streiiglh which 1 iiad observed, was the {)erfect ease 
with which he threw himself over a high wall or ])aling, which often drew my attention, 
because he seemed to me wanting in llmt particular physical development which we are 
accustomed to consider as necessary to muscular power. He was Hat-chested, and flat- 
sided, with a somewhat long back and narrow loin. (My drawing Ibreshortens his length.) 
His neck, tbrearm and thigh certainly indicated strength. If the Spanish wolf and the dog 
ever coliabit. he most assuredly had in him such a cross ; the veiy effluvia of the animal be- 
trayed it. In all in which he differed horn tlie beautiful Spanish shepherd-dog, he was 
wolfish both in form and hal)its.* But, though no parlor beauty, Arrogante was unquestion- 
ably a dog of immense value to the mouutain-shepherd. Seveial times, he had met the 
large wolf of the Appenines, and without aid slain his antagonist. The shepherds who bred 
him said it was an aifair of no doubtful issue, when he encountered a wolf single-handed. 
His history, after reaching England, you know." 

Some poftions of that history I cannot resist the temptation of narrating, 
as illustrative of the character of this interesting breed, and commemora- 
tive of the virtues of the stern, but honest and dauntless Arrogante. If 
his courage was tinctured with ferocity, and sometimes instigated by a 
revenge, going a little beyond the canon which permits bad debts to be 
paid in kind, he did everything openhi ! He made no sneakish, cur-like 
attacks, on the heels of his foe. By him, as l)y Robin Hood and his merry 
men — commemorated by Drayton — 

" Who struck below the kn e [was] not counted then a man ;" 

and his spring was always at the throat of his quarry. But he made not 
that deadly spring until he gave " warning fair and true," and never with- 
out provocation.t 

Soon after Arrogante's arrival in England, a ewe under his charge 
chanced to get cast in a ditch, during the temporary absence of the Span- 
ish shepherd who had accoinpanied the flock and dog at their importation. 
An English shepherd, in a spirit of vaunting, insisted on relieving the fal- 
len sheep, in preference to having the absent shepherd called, though 
warned by his companions to desist. The stern stranger dog met him at 
the gate and also warned him with sullen growls, growing more menacing 
as he approached the sheep. The shepherd was a powerful and bold man, 
and felt that it was too late now to retract with credit. On reaching the 
sheep, he bent carefully forward, with his eyes on the dog, which instantly 
made a spring at his throat. A quick forward movement of his arm saved 
his throat, but the arm was so dreadfully lacerated that immediate am- 
putation became necessary. T(j save the dog, which had Init done his 
duty, as he had heen taught if, from the popular excitement, he was ship- 
ped in a vessel which sailed that very afternoon, from Bristol for America. 
He was sent to Francis Rotch, Esq., then a i-esident of New-Bedford. 

For a long time Arrogante would not pay the least attention to his new 
master ; the voice of the latter would scarcely arrest him for a moment. 
After attempting in vain, for several weeks, to obtain some recognition of 
mastership from him, Mr. Rotch chained him securely to a tree, punished 
him severely, and then, with not a few miscrivings, released him. But he 
submitted, for he well knew that the punishment came from his master, 
and afterward gave a cold, haughty obedience to all required of him. 

• I nevor have Ewpposod, from the several conversation" which I have had with Mr. Rotch on the sub- 
ject, that Arrosanto was anjthiiis less than a thoroiigh-bn^d t^panish fhe(iherd-i1o?. Mr. Rotch here means 
that he was an ill-favored individual of the fanuly— and hl^ lliinks iliat this way be owinn; 10 a bar-sinister 
on iiis escutcheon, left there by some wolfish gallant. His temper was even less ferocious than Mr. Powell 
lie'crihes that of his Sjianish doiis. 

f Was tlicre anything wolf-likt in all of this ? 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 283 

Stupid and apparently sleeping much of the day, nothing, however, 
escaped his observation, or was subsequently erased from his memory. If 
led round a building, or enclosure, or even an open space, at night-fall, in 
a manner to evince particular design, during the entire night like a senti- 
nel he traversed some part of the guarded ring, permitting neither man nor 
beast to pass in or oiit from it. 

Arrogante was a " temperance man," of thestraightest sect — an out-and- 
out teetotaler — and if tolerant of deviations from his creed, he could bear 
none, from the sobriety o^\ns, practice. Never would he confess acquain- 
tance with a drunken man — though the hand of that man fed him. The 
baiHff, who usually fed Arrogante, used occasionally to come home late in 
the evening a little "yow,"and never could he in this condition get his foot 
on the premises ! The old man has plead guilty to more than one night'.s 
lodgings on the ground, in consequence of Arrogante's temperance scru- 
ples. 

On one occasion a couple of sailors, to take advantage of the tide, came 
unexpectedly, and without giving any notice, on the farm, at 3 A. M., to 
take away some potatoes they had purchased. Arrogante thought it 
was not so " nominated in the bond ;" he forced them to clamber into an 
empty cart, and there he kept them until morning. They tried the expe- 
riment of putting a leg over the side once or twice, but were admonished 
in too unequivocal a manner to keep quiet, to need any farther hints. 
They lost the tide, and were in great tribulation, but, like honest fellows, 
confessed the fault was their own. 

I might, did limits allow, recount many more anecdotes displaying the 
iron determination and fixed precision with which this noble dog obeyed 
his instructions in guarding sheep or other property committed to his 
charge. He was a decided " strict constructionist," swerving not from the 
letter of his commission, and woe to him who attempted to countervail the 
tenor of that commission ! 

Drunkenness was destined to prove as fatal as it was detestable, to Arro- 
gante. A gentleman occupied a cottage orne by the sea-side, the lane to 
which ran along the farm, and near the stable which Arrogante made his 
head-quarters, when not on particular duty. The gentleman war. reg- 
ularly introduced to him, and warned against ever provoking him. Re- 
turning him home late one Saturday evening on horseback, from ^conviv- 
ial meeting, as he galloped through the lane, he met the dog, and v/an- 
tonly struck him or struck at him with a hunting-whip. He was a large 
man, and rode a tall, powerful horse, and being under speed, he escaped 
before the astonished dog recovered from his surprise. But the insulted 
blood of Castile rushed in boiling currents through the veins of the mad- 
dened Arrogante. He felt, like his countryman De Lerma, in Ejies Sar- 
gent's tragedy of Velasco — 

" Strnrk like a meniiil ! buffeted I degraded ! 
Ppare not my life, if mercy thou would ehow, 
Tnnu frivest me back only what thou hast made 
A burden, a disgrace, a misery !" 

But AiTOgante felt both the power and will to avenge himself, and he 
resolved on a bloody retribution. 

The next morning the gentleman was on his way to church, mounted as 
before. The dog heard and knew the tread of his horse, rose from his lair 
in the stable, walked to the road-side, and stood grimly awaiting his in- 
sulter. When the latter had approached within a few yards, Arrogante, 
like a missile projected from a catapult, met him in the air, in a deadly 
spring at his throat. The sudden jump and swerve of the frightened and 



284 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

very active horse, saved the rider's throat and his life — but so narrowly- 
had he escaped, that he felt the gnashing teeth of the frenzied brute 
scrape down his dress, where they came in contact with and closed upon 
his watch, tearing it away with the adjacent clothing. The horseman fled 
for his life, while the baflled dog vented his rage on the gold watch 
which he had captured, by chewing it into atoms ! The cause of this ter- 
rible onset not beingr disclosed at the time, Mr. R., thousrh convinced from 
the character of the dog that he had not been the aggressor, felt constrain- 
ed to give orders to have him shot. 

The Hungarian Sheep-Dog. — The following description of the Hunga- 
rian Sheep-Dog, occurs in Paget's " Hungary and Transylvania :"* 

" It would be unjust to quit the subject of the Puszta Shepherd without makhi^ due and 
honorable mention of his constant companion and friend, the juhdsz-hiitya — the Hungarian 
shepherd dog. The shepherd dog is commonly white, sometimes inclined to a reddish 
brown, and about the size of our Newfoundland dog. His sharp nose, short erect ears, 
shaggy coat, and bushy tail give him much the appearanceof a wolf ; indeed, so great is the 
resemblance, that I have known a Hungarian gentleman mistake a wolf for one of his own 
dogs. Except to their masters, they are so savage that it is unsafe for a stranger to enter the 
coart-yard of a Hungarian cottage, without arms. I speak from experience ; for as I was walk- 
ing through the yard of a post-house, where some of these dogs were lying about, apparently 
asleep, one of them crept after me, and inflicted a severe wound on my leg, of which I still 
bear the marks. Bt-fore I could turn round, the dog was already far otf ; for, like the wolf, 
they bite by snapping, but never hang to the object like the bull-dog or mastiff. Their saga- 
city in driving and guarding the sheep and cattle, and their courage in protecting them from 
wolves and robbers, are highly praised; and the shepherd is so well aware of the value of a 
good one, that it is difficult to mduce him to part with it." 

I have little doubt that the Hungarian dogs above described are the 
descendants of the Spanish ones, introduced into Hungary with the Meri- 
no sheep, though possibly they may be somewhat crossed by interbreeding 
with the dogs of the country. 

The Mexican Sheep-Dog. — The following acccount of these noble dogs 
appears as a communication from Mr. J. H. Lyman, in the third volume of 
the American Agriculturist :t 

" Although Mr. Kendall and some other writers have described this wonderful animal as 
a cross of the Newfoundland dog, such, I think, cannot be the fact; on the contrary, I have 
no doubt he is a genuine descendant of the Alpine mastiff, or more properly, Spanish shep- 
herd dog introduced by them at the time of the Conquest. He is only to be ibund in the 
sheep-raising districts of New Mexico. The other Mexican dogs, which number more than 
a thousand to one of these noble animals, are the results of a cross of everything under the 
sun having any affinity to the canine race, and even of a still noljler class of animals if Mexi- 
can stories are to be credited. It is believed in Mexico, that the countless mongrels of that 
country owe their origin to the assistance of the various kinds of wolves, mountain cats, 
lynxes, and to almost if not every class of four-footed carnivorous animals. Be this as it may, 
those who have not seen them can believe as much as they like ; but eye-witnesses can assert, 
that there never was a country blessed with a greater and more abundant variety of misera- 
rable, snarling, cowardly packs, than the mongrel dogs of Mexico. That country of a surety- 
would be the plague-spot of this beautiful world, were it not for the redeeming character of 
the truly noble shepherd dog, endowed as it is with almost human intellect. I have often 
thought, when observing the sagacity of this animal, that if veiy many of the human race 
possessed one half of the power of inductive reasoning which seems to be the gift of this 
animal, that it would be far better for themselves and for iheir fellow-creatures. 

The peculiar education of these dogs is one of the most in]i)ortant and interesting steps 
pursued by the shepherd. His method is to select from a multitude of pups a few of tlie 
healthiest and finest-looking, and to put them to a sucking ewe, first depriving her of her 
own lamb. By force, as well as from a natural desire she has to be rehevedof the con- 
tents of her udder, she soon learns to look upon the little interlopers with all the affection 
she would manifest for her own natural offspring. For the first few days the pups are kept 
in the hut, the ewe suckling them morning and evening only ; but giadually, as she be- 



Hungary and Transylvania, by John Paget, Esq., vol. ii., p. 12, a supra. t Page 241. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IIS THE SOUTH. 285 

comes accustomed to their sight, she is allowed to run in a small enclosure with them until 
she becomes so perfectly familiar with their appearance as to take the entire charge of 
them. After this they are folded with the whole flock for a fortnight or so, they then run 
about durin<^ the day with the flock, which after a while becomes so accustomed to them, as 
to be able to distinguish them from other dogs — even from those of the same litter which 
have not been nursed among them. The shepherds usually allow the slut to keep one of 
a litter for her own particular benefit ; the balance are generally destroyed. 

After the pups are weaned, they never leave the particular drove among which they have 
been reared. Not even the voice of their master can entice them beyond sight of the flock ; 
neither hunger or thirst can do it. I have been credibly informed of an instance where a 
single dog having charge of a small flock of sheep, was allowed to wander with them about 
the mountauis, while the shepherd returned to his village for a few days, having perfect 
confidence in the ability of his dog to look after the flock during his absence, but with a 
strange want of foresight as to the provision of the dog for his food. Upon his return to the 
flock, he found it several miles from where left, but on the road leading to the village, and 
the poor faithful animal in the agonies of death, dying of starvation, even in the midst of 
jilentji ; yet the flock had not been harmed by him. A reciprocal aflection exists between 
them" which may put to blush many of the human family. The poor dog recognized 
them only as brothers and dearly loved friends ; he was ready at all times to lay do\yn 
his life for them ; to attack not only wolves and mountain cats, with the confidence of vic- 
tory, but even the bear, when there could be no hope. Of late years, when the shepherds 
of New Mexico have suffered so much from Indian marauders, instances have frequently 
occurred where the dog has not hesitated to attack his human foes, and although transfix- 
ed with arrows, his indomitable courage and faithfulness have been such us to compel his 
assailants to pin him to the earth with spears, and hold him there until dispatched with 
stones. 

In the above instance the starving dog could have helped himself to one of his little bro- 
ther lambs, or could have deserted the sheep, and very soon have reached the settlements 
where there was food for him. But faithful even unto death, he would neitlier leave nor 
molest them, but followed the promptings of his instinct to lead into the settlement ; their 
unconsciousness of hie wants and slow motions in travehng were too much for his exhaust- 
ing strength. 

These shepherds are very nomadic in character. They are constantly moving about, 
their camp equipage consisting merely of a kettle and a bag of meal ; their lodges are made 
in a few minutes, of branches, &c., thrown against cross-sticks. They very seldom go out 
in the day-time with their flocks, intrusting them entirely with their dogs, which faithfully 
return them at night, never pennitting any stragglers behind or lost. Sometimes different 
flocks are brought into the same neighborhood owing to scarcity of grass, when tlie wonder- 
ful instincts of the shepherds' dogs are most beautifully displayed; and to my astonishment, 
who have been an eye-witness of such scenes, if two flocks approach within a few yards of 
each other, their respective proprietors will place tliemselves in the space between them, 
and as is very naturally the case, if any adventurous sheep should endeavor to ci-oss over to 
visit her neighbors, her dog protector kindly but firmly leads her back, and it sometimes 
happens, if many make a rush and succeed in joining the other flock, the dogs under whose 
charge they are, go over and bring them all out, but, strange to say, under such circumstances 
they are never opposed by the other dogs. They approach the strange sheep only to prevent 
their own from leaving the flock, though they offer no assistance in expelling the other sheep. 
But they never permit sheep not under canine protection, nor dogs not in charge of sheep, 
to approach them. Even the same dogs which are so freely permitted to enter their flocks 
hi seaich of their own, are driven away with ignominy if they presume to approach them 
without that laudable object in view. 

Many anecdotes could be related of the wonderful instinct of these dogs. I very much 
doubt if there are shepherd dogs in any other part of the world except Spain, equal to those 
of New-Mexico in value. The famed Scotch and English dogs sink into insignificance by 
the side of them. Their superiority may be owing to the peculiar mode of rearing them, 
but they are certainly very noble animals, natuially of large size, and highly deserving to be 
introduced into the United States. A pair of them will easily kill a wolf, and flocks under 
their care need not fear any common enemy to be found in our country. 

J. H. Lyman." 

Mr. Kendall* speaks of meeting, on the Grand Prairie, 
— a flock numbering seventeen thousand, which immense herd was guarded by a very few 
men, assisted by a large number of noble dogs, which appeared gifted with the fnculty of 
keei)ing them together. There was no running about, no barking or biting in their system 
of tactics ; or the contrary, they were continually walking up and down, like faithful senti 
Dels, on the outer side of the flock, and should any sheep chance to stray from its fellows, 
the dog on duty at that particular post, would walk gently up, take him carefully by the ear. 

* Vol. I., p. 268. 



286 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



and lo;i(l liim back to the flock. Not the least fear did the sheep manifest at the approach 
of these dogs, and there was no occasion for it. 

These noble animals seem, according to these and various other corre- 
sponding accounts I have seen of them, to leave nothing to desire in the way 
of a sheen-dog, either for guarding or managing flocks. They would be in- 
valuable in our Southern States, to protect the flocks from the cur-dogs 
which so often attack them, and from the occasional wolves. I hope 
eflbrts will be made to introduce them into our country, and then they 
should be bred in the utmost purity. 

South American Sheep-Dog. — Similar to the preceding in character 
and habits, are the sheep-dogs to be found in various parts of South Amer- 
ica. Tliey, too, are undoubtedly an offshoot from the Spanish stem. 
The following interesting account of them is from Darwin's Journal : 

" While staying at this estancia (in Banda Oriental), I was amused with what I saw and 
heard of the shepherd dogs of the country. When riding, it is a common thing to meet a 
large flock of sheep guarded by one or two dogs, at the distance of some miles from any 
house or man. I often wondered how so firm a friendr^hip had been estal)li.'-hed. The 
method of education consists in separating the pup])y, when very young, from the bitch, 
and in accustoming it to its fiUare companions. A ewe is held three or four times a day 
for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in the shoep-pen. — At no tim»3 
is it allowed to associate witli other dogs, or with the children of the family. The pupjiy, 
moreover, is generally castrated ; so that when grown up, it can scarcely liave any feelings 
in connnon with the rest of its kind. From this education it has no wish to leave the flock, 
and just as another dog will defend its master, man. so will these the sheej). It is amusing 
to observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog immediately advances barkiiig — and the 
sheep all close in his rear as if round the oldest ram. These dogs are also easily taught to 
])ring home the flock at a certain time in the evenhig. Their most troublesome faidt when 
yoiuTi,' is their desn-e of playing with the sheep, for in their play, they sometimes gallop their 
poor subjects most unmercifully. The slu?pherd dog comes to the house every day for 
home meat, an<l immediately it is given to him he skulks away as if ashamed of himself. 
On these occasions the house dogs are very tynumieal, and the least of them will attack 
and ])ursae the stranger. The minute, however, the latter has reached the flock, he tnnis 
round and begins to bark, and then all the house dogs take very quickly to their 
heels. In a similar manner a whole pack of hungry wild dogs will scarcely ever (and I was 
told by some, never;, venture to attack a flock guarded even by one of these faithful shepherds. 
Tlie whiile account ajipears tome a curious instance of die pliability of the affections of the 
do" race ; and yet, whether wild, or however educated, with a mutual i'eeling of respect and 
fear for those that are fulfilling thtir instinct of association. For we can understand on no 
principle the wild dogs being "driven away by the .single one with its flock, except that they 
consider, from some c<mfused notion, that tlie one thus associated gains power, as if in com- 
pany with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed that all imimals which enter into domes- 
tication consider Manas a memb'-r of their society, and thus they fulfil their instinct of asso- 
ciation. In the above case tlie shepherd doi.'s rank the sheep as their brethren ; and the 
\vild do"s, though knowing that the intlividu.d sheep are not dogs, but arc good to eat, yet 
partly c-'onseut to this view, when seeing them in a flock, with a shepherd dog at their 
head." 

Other l.\rge races of Sheep-Dogs. — There are one or two fine species 
in France, as those of Brie, and Auvergne. In a letter from G. W. 
Lafavette, to John S. Skinner, Esq., the latter are pronounced equal to 
the Spanish dogs.* Large powerful races, everywhere possessing the 
same general characteristics, are to be found in almost every country 
excepting our own, where the fine-wooled breeds of sheep have been ex- 
tensively introduced. With a comiriLMce extending to all the maritime 
nations of the world, singular it is that so little pains have been taken to 
introduce them. 

The English Sheep-Uog. — The following are portraits of a Drover's dog, 



' See Farmers' Library, Vol. i., p. 465. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRl IN THE SOUTH. 



287 



and a Scotch Colley slut, imported by B. Gates, of Gap Grove, Lee Co 
Illinois. They are taken from The Farmers' Library.* 

Fig. 72. 







DROVER 3 DOG, AND COLLEY SLUT. 

The Drovei^'s dog, or English sheep-dog, or Butcher's dog — for by an 
of these names is he known — is considerably smaller than the species or 
families heretofore described, but lie is a larger and more powerful dog 
than the Colley. Mr. Gates, in the communication accompanying the 
portraits, remarks : 

" Much has already been written on the intplllpence of the Scotch Colley. My opinion is 
that the English '• Butcher's dog" is no way lackinfr on tliat point. Any reader wlio has 
visited Sniitlifield market in London, on Monday or Friday, will, no doubt, have formed the 
same opinion. There you liave an opjiortunity of seeing a nuniljer of these useful animals 
at their work. It would, in fact, l)e almost impossible to conduct this market without their 
aid. There a vast number of different animals are brought for sale from all parts of the 
couutry, to supply this great metropolis, and are collected in the smallnst possible space. 
The difficulty of keeping them from mingling with others falls princi(ia]ly on the dog. If 
one slips away, or a particular one is wished to be caught, it is pointed out to him, and is re- 
turned back, or held till the owner takes it — the dog always holding them by the side oi' the 
head, so as not to bruise the body. By a word or motion of the hand, tlipy will run over 
the backs of the sheep, to stop them or turn them in a diH'ereut direction. I liave ofteu 
admired, with astonishment, their quick and intelligent actions. They appear to read the 
thoughts of their master by liis countenance, for their eye is continually on his, or the flock. 
Nothing else can attract his attention when he has work to perform, and at times I have 
thought he acted with more juilgment than the owner. . . . The breed of '• Boxer," (whose 
portrait is above given,) is sometimes called the Drover's or Tailless breed." 

Mr. Colman, in one of his Reports, says: 

" For a week or more before the tiyst, the roads leading to Falkink will be found crowded 
with successive droves of cattle and sheep, proceeding to this central point ; and it is ex- 
tremely curious on the field to see with what skill and care the difl'erent ])arties and herds 
are kept together by themselves. In this mailer the shepherds are geuerally assisted by 

* VoL i., p. 573. 



288 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



their dogs, which appear endowed with a sagacity almost human, and almost to know every 
individaal belonginjj to their charge. Tliey are sure, with an inflexible pertinacity, to bring 
back a deserter to the flock." 

Mr. T. C. Peters, (now of Buffalo, N. Y.,) on his return from Europe, a 
few years since, brouo^ht over a Drover and a Colley. His testimony to 
their extraordinary value will be found in the American Agriculturist, vol. 
iii., page 76. 

Fig. 73. 




The Scotch Sheep-Dog or Colley. — The light, active, sagacious Colley 
admits of no superior — scarcely of an equal — where it is his business 
merely to manage his flock, and not to defend them from beasts larger 
than himself Mr. Hogg says that "a single shepherd and his dog will 
accomplish more in gathering a flock of sheep from a Highland farm than 
twenty shepherds could do without dogs. Neither hunger, fatigue, nor 
the worst treatment will drive him from his master's side, and he will 
follow him through every hardship without murmur or repining." 

The same well-known writer, in a letter in Blackwood's Magazine, gives 
a most glowing description of the qualities of his Colley, " Sirrah." One 
night a flock of lambs, under his care, frightened at something, made 
what we call in America a regular stampede, scattering over the hills in 
several different bodies, " Sirrah," exclaimed Hogg in despair, " they're 
a' awa ! " The dog dashed off through the darkness. After spending 
with his assistants, the whole night in a fruitless search after the fugitives, 
Mr. Hogg commenced his return to his master's house. Coming to a 
deep ravine, they found Sirrah in charge, as they at first supposed, of one 
of the scattered divisions, but what was their joyful surprise to find that 
not a lamb of the whole flock was missing! 

Of the stanch devotedness of the Colley, under any and all circum- 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 289 

stances, Mr. Peters gives, in the American Agriculturist, the following 
characterislic illustration, copied from a Scotch paper: 

" The master of the bitch purchased at a fair some eighty sheep, and having occasion to 
stay a day longer, sent them forward and directed his faithful Colley to drive them home, a 
distance of about 17 miles. The poor bitch, when a few miles on the road, dropped two 
whelps; but faithful to her charge, she drove the sheep on a mile or two farther — then 
allowing them to stop, she returned for her pups, which she carried some two miles in 
advance of the sheep, and thus she continued to do, alternately carrying her own young ones, 
and taking charge of the flock, till she reached home. The manner of her acting on this 
occasion was gathered by the shepherd from various persons who had observed her on the 
road. " 

The Colleys are not now uncommon in the Northern States, and I have 
often seen proofs of their singular sagacity in collecting, driving, and 
guarding sheep, and in catching out one from the flock when directed by 
their masters. I have often seen one drive a flock of fifty or sixty sheep 
through a crowed street, encountering teams, pedestrians, and other dogs 
at every step — without the slightest assistance. 

Accustoming the Sheep to the Dog. — It is a mistake to suppose that a 
trained sheep-dog will manage any strange flock, however wild and unac- 
customed to such company. The sheep must be gradually made acquainted 
with, and accustomed to the dog. They must know — and they will 
readily learn it — that he is their friend, their guardian and piotector, 
instead of that hereditary enemy which their instinct teaches them to fly 
from. A want of knowledge of this fact has frequently led to disappoint- 
ment and disgust, to a giving up of the valuable dog which it has cost 
pains and money to procure. Mr. Skinner relates a ludicrous incident of 
Mr. Jefferson, arising from his not being apprized of this fact. A thoroughly 
broken sheep-dog had been sent him from abroad, and the great Sage of 
Monticello, after having held forth ore rotuvdo to some visitors, on the 
value of these dogs, and their immense convenience — nay, their indispens- 
ability in managing flocks, led forth his guests to give a practical exempli- 
fication of the qualities of his dog. At the woi'd, the latter made for the 
sheep. The terrified animals fled in all directions, some of them dashing 
themselves over precipices and breaking their necks. The dog either 
shared the same fate, or, mortified at his failure, felt his pride too deeply 
wounded to return. Mr. Jefferson never recovered him ! 



WOOL DEPOTS. 

Commission merchants who confine their operations exclusively to the 
sale of Wool, have opened large stores or " Depots," at three or four points 
in the Northei-n States. Of the origin of this system, Mr. H. Blanchard, 
of Kinderhook, N. Y., thus spoke at the Agricultural meeting at the 
Assembly Chamber, Albany, Feb. 3, 1848 : 

" From facts that were ascertained by Hon. J. P. Beekman, (then President of the N. Y. 
State Agricultural Society.) at the State Fair held in Poughkeepsie, in 1844, he became con- 
vinced that the growers of Dutchess county, by reason of the superior facilities afforded 
them for the sale of their fine wools, were procuring from six to eight cents per pound more 
than many wool-growers in other sections of the State who produced the same quality of 
wool. The large quantity of fine wool grown in that county, offered great inducements for 
manufacturers ana purchasers of fine wool to make that a place of resort to obtain their sup- 
plies, and thus a fair competition was awakened, which resulted in a just appreciation of the 
relative value of their wools, and remunerating prices to the fine wool grower. Soon after 
Dr. B.'s return, the evils consequent upon the system of selling wools in our county, as well 
as elsewhere, became a matter of discussion between him and other wool-growers in our 
vicinity and myself, the result of wliich was a request from them that I would open what 
we now term a " Wool Depot." The principles involved in the depot system are not new, 
it being conducted upon those of a commission business ; but it is only the details and appli 



"290 SHEEP HUSBANDRY TN THE SOUTH. 

cation of these principles to wool when received direct from the grower, that had never be- 
fore in this country been applied in the same discriuiiuating manner, and with as little 
expense as by this system." 

The objects and advantages of the system, and the method of conduct- 
ing these eslabHshments are clearly set forth in the following letter from 
my friend Mr. Peters, to whom, as a keeper of one of these Depots, and a 
gentleman of conceded ability — as well as skill, energy and success 
in this and in his other business operations — I thought it appropriate to 
apply for this information. 

'H. S. Randall. Esq. Buffalo. N. Y., Dec. 16, 1847. 

My Dear Sir : Your kind favor of the I2th insl., making inquiries relative to the Wool 
Depot system, is before me. 

It will give me pleasure to answer your queries, not that by so doing I can add anything 
to the exceeding great value of your Letters to the whole country, and especially to the 
South and West — yet from my own experience as a wool-grower, and in the management 
of a Wool Depot which I established at this place^last spring, I may give some information 
that will be useful to your readers, and may they be millions. In so doing, I will give you 
Ist, An account of the object ; 2d, The method of doing busijiess ; and 3d, The advantages 
of the Wool Depot system. 

The Object. — Upon no sheep is the wool exactly alike over the whole body ; nor is the 
wool exactly alike upon any single flock. In most flocks there is a great diversity — greater 
than there should be for the firmer's profit. There is, then, a variety of grades of wool ia 
every flock, and in every section of the country where wool is grown. 

Manufacturers first grade the wool ; that is, sort the fleeces, making from five to eight or 
nine different gi-ades. Each fleece is then opened, and stapled, or sorted into the various 
grades of the factoi-y. Some manufactories use only the finest, others only the coarsest, and 
others again use only one kind of the intermediate sorts, so that fiom a single flock, I 
sold this year wool to five dift'erent manufactuiers,no one wanting or working the kind that 
the other wanted. 

The object of the Wool Depot is to sort and arrange the wool, that the manufacturer can 
readily obtain the particular kind adapted to liis machinery, and to obtain for each sort its 
fair market value. 

Method of doing Business. — The system originated with Mr. H. Blanchard, at Kinder- 
hook, some three years ago. Last year, we sent our wool to Mr. Blanchard, and during the 
winter I visited his establishment, and was so well satisfied with the operation of it, and 
of the vitjil importance of the system to the wool-growers everywhere, that I at once made 
arrangements to open one at liiis point. I accordingly commenced operations in the spring, 
and have been successful beyond my most sanguine expectations. 

I have a competent and experienced sorter, and when wool is sent in, it is at once sorted 
in the fleece, each sort weighed, and entered in a book under the name of the person send- 
ing it. 

I have adopted Mr. Blanchard's method of sorting, as experience has shown that to be the 
best, under all circumstances. I make, then, five sorts, taking full-blooded Merino for No. 
1, and grading down to coarse common wool, which is No. 5. Saxony I gi-ade into Extra, 
Prime I, and Prime 2. Then there is a kind of wool which is admirable for combing, and 
another kind that is wanted for De Laines; — these form five more sorts, making thus ten 
sorts. But as there is such a difference in the condition of wool when brought into the 
Depot, f usually make two sorts of each number. Thus I have No. 2, and No. 2 a. No. 2 
is usually good, but No. 2 a is of the same grade, but is in better condition, every way a 
choice article, but still not fine enough to go into a hisher grade. The wool is actually 
worth two or three cents per lb. more than the other number to which it belongs, and but 
for making this distinction, would not bring its full value. When the wool is properly sorted, 
it is piled up in a manner that will enable the purchaser to see it at a good advantage; — in- 
sured, and held until the market requires it. I make all my sales here, and for cash. 
When the sales are closed, an account is made out and sent to those who have sent me their 
wool ; usually, an account is rendered as last as any part of a man's wool is sold. I have 
often been asked, how I conld tell whether any man's wool was sold, unless the whole of a 
sort was sold at a time. It is very easy. Suppose A. has 100 lbs. of No. 1, and I have sold 
20,000 ll)s. out of 40,000 lbs. — that being the whole amount in the Depot. I have sold one- 
half of each man's No. 1, and I turn to A.'s account and give him credit for 50 lbs. sold, and 
60 go through and credit each niiui with his proportion of that number sold. 

The charges are, for receiving, sorting, and selling, one cent per lb., and the insurance — 
which is usually about 30 cts. on .$100, for three months. Cartage from the dock is usually 
three cents per bale. The sacks are returned or sold at the option of the owner. They are 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 291 

'OBually worth about fifty cents, more or less, according to their condition. Each man's 
svool is careflilly examined ; if put up in bad order, it is so noted, and a deduction made by 
the sorter, to make it as it should be. So that it is no object for a man to send to the Depot 
wool in a bad condition. 

The Advantages. — The foregoing facts would seem to be so plain that it cannot be 
necessary to refer to the advantages. No man, however, is more at the mercy of the specu- 
lator, than the wool-grower. The very fact that he has so many kinds of wool in his clip, 
prevents him from ascertaining the market value of the whole, lor being in comparatively 
small quantities, he has not enough, if ever so well sorted, to make it an object for the differ- 
ent manufacturers to visit him. He is therefore compelled to sell his whole clip at the 
price of his present quality, and at prices from five to fifteen cents per lb. under the real 
market value of his wool. Allow me to illustrate by an example. A farmer has his wheat, 
corn, oats, and barley, all mixed, and carries it to market in this condition. Will anybody 
give him the value of each kind of grain? On the contrary, they would not be willing to 
pay even the value of the cheapest kind. And yet each kind by itself has a market value. 
Precisely in the same situation is the wool-grower, except that he has no means of knowing 
the value of the various sorts of wool, except from the speculator. 

The advantage of the Depot system, then, is, that there his wool is properly sorted. The 
wheat is separated from the corn, the corn from the oats, and the oats from the barley, and 
each is made to bring its fair market value. By having an extensive conespondence among 
the manufacturers throughout the country, I am kept constantly advised of the market ; and 
knowing the price of cloth in the cities, I am enabled to know to a certainty what the price 
of the various grades of wool should be. 

When the manufacturer can get the kind of wool he wants, and in large quantities, he is 
willing to pay, and does pay a better price than when he has to buy that which he does not 
want, to get the right sort. It also equalizes the market, and brings the producer and the 
manufacturer together, without being compelled to pay agents or speculators, and prevents 
that fluctuation of the market which is always produced by speculation. 

But there is another very great advantage growuig out of the system. It enables the wool- 
growers in the various sections of the country to compare wool, and to know who has really 
the best and most profitable kinds of sheep. It has been strikingly manifest with me this 
season. For I have been enabled to point out to people in different States West, where 
they could find the most profitable sheep, by the wool which had been sent me. And in 
one instance men had been over five hun/Jred miles after sheep, and paid high prices, when 
there were sheep in their own town worth double the money. 

There is no difficulty in sending wool here from any part of the country bordering upon 
the Ohio, or its tributaries. The expense of transportation will range from one to one and 
a half cents per lb. — depending much upon the bargain made with the clipper. I have re- 
ceived wool this year from all the Western States, in some instances as far West as the Mis- 
sissippi River, and the average cost for freight has been about one cent per lb. 

It was urged by many last spring that this city was not a good point, inasmuch as it was 
not sufficiently central in its location. For nothing is more certain, than that a wool Depot, 
to be successful, must be so located as to command a large amount of wool. The larger 
amount you can concentrate at a point, the more rapid and sure will be your sales. To this 
city the products of the West naturally tend, and to this point the producer can calculate with 
great certainty when, and at what expense it will arrive. But after its tians-shipment here, 
expenses accumulate, without any corresponding benefit. And it is peculiarly so, in regard 
to wool, coming as it often does in bad order, sacks torn, broken, and wet. 

But I have made my letter already longer than I intended, and in speaking of my own 
Depot have perhaps gone more into detail than is necessary. 

This much I must be permitted to say to every wool-grower, that the Wool Depot system, 
properly conducted and patronized, is uidispensable to ultimate and profitable success. 

I remain, my dear sir. 

Very sincerely yours, 

T. C. Peters. 

Messrs. Perkins and Brown have a Depot at Springfield, Mass. ; and 
I believe the establishment of two or three others is in contemplation, by- 
companies or individuals. 

Conducted with skill and fidelity, there can be but little doubt that these 
establishments are alike beneficial to the wool-grower and manufacturer. 
That Mr. Blanchard's and Mr. Peters's have thus far been so conducted, there 
is not the least doubt. Of the other I know nothing, though report speaks 
well of it. The design was not regarded with much favor, in the out 
set, by many of our most extensive wool-growers. They preferred to " do 



292 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

their own business, " and not "pay the wages of an intermediate agent." 
But the advantages derived from selling the wool in sorted lots, have been 
found to far more than overbalance the one cent per pound paid to the 
" agent" or Depot keeper, and the system is rapidly gaining favoj-. Many 
of our most experienced wool growers in this State — men the most com- 
petent to favorably dispose of their wool — have sent their wool to Messrs. 
Blanchard and Peters, and I have yet to see or hear of the first person 
who has been disappointed in the result. 

If wool Depots are beneficial in the North, where the agents of different 
manufacturers, and " speculators," visit every man's barn to bid on his 
wool — and among a class of growers, too, who, from long experience, are 
familiar with the qualities and comparative values of the staple — how 
much more beneficial would they be to regions in which the growers are 
so scattered that they are rarely visited by traveling agents — or if so, not 
in numbers sufficient to produce that competition which would compel them 
to offer the fair market value of the article : and where, perhaps, in many 
cases, the growers themselves have not sufficient experience to determine 
the exact grade of their own clips, even supposing them correctly notified 
from time to time from abroad, of the market value of the several grades. 
The Depot system, in iny judgment, removes the great and only serious obsta- 
cle to successful wool-growing in the South. 

It is not necessary that Depots be established in the Southern States, to 
have those States reap the full benefit of the system. For the present, and 
for some time to come, at least, the North will furnish the best home mar- 
ket for fine wools. The wool therefore must, until some changes take 
place, come to the North before it is sold ; and the transportation must be 
equally subtracted from the avails, whether the sale is effected at home or 
at a Northern wool Depot. Indeed, it would be better to store it in a De- 
pot at Kinderhook or Buffalo, than at Charleston or Nashville. And 
this is for the reason that the two foi'mer are much nearer to, and can be 
more speedily visited by the principal woolen manufacturers of the Uni- 
ted States, than the latter. The New- York or New-England manufac- 
turer would be little likely to send an agent to Charleston or Nashville, if 
he could supply his wants equally cheaply (with the addition of cost of 
transportation), from Buff*alo, Kinderhook, or Springfield. And if supplied 
any more cheaply at the former places (price of transportation excepted), 
be it remembered, it would be so much unnecessarily taken out of the pocket 
of the grower. 

Should the South at any future day find it more for her interest to ship 
her wools to Europe, the above considerations will cease to be valid. She 
would then want Depots as much as now, for far more gain, proportiona- 
bly, is made by sorting wool for the foreign, than the American markets. 
But in that event, the Depots would assume a different character, and 
they would be most appropriately located at the port whence the wools 
were shipped. 

A CORRECTION.— MR. RUFFIN. 

In the beginning of Letter VI., I made the following remark in relation 
to Hon. Edmund Ruffln — " He seems to think lime, of itself, adequate to 
the full and permanent amelioration of the tertiary soils." — This remark 
was made on a somewhat too hasty inspection of some of Mr. Ruffin's po- 
sitions in the Agricultural Survey of South Carolina. Since writing it, I 
nave had the pleasure of reading for the first time Mr. R.'s highly valua- 
ble work on Calcareous Manures, and find that I was in error in the state- 
ment above made. 



I 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 293 



NOTE IN RELATION TO AUSTRALIA. 

Since the preceding Letters were completed, the exceedingly interesting 
article from the (English) Farmers' Magazine, which is published below, 
has met my eye. It will be seen from it that the conclusions arrived at 
by me (see page 123,) in relation to the vast increase in the trans-Atlantic 
demand for wool and woolens, are in a rapid course of verification. I 
wrote from statistics extending down to 1840. In that year the English 
import of wool was forty-six millions of pounds. In 1845, according to 
the subjoined authority, it was seventy-six millions of pounds. And this 
rapid increase took place, notwithstanding the vast extension in the woolen 
manufactures in other nations, particularly in Germany, France, Spain and 
Belgium. The extract given from Waterton's " Cyclopaedia of Com- 
merce," asserting the improbability of a much greater extension of the 
English woolen manufactures, "unless new markets shall be opened," may 
be true. But new markets are yet to spring up in Central and Northern 
Asia, and even in Northern Europe, which will, in the aggregate, require 
an increase of woolen manufactures which the boldest calculator now 
scarcely dreams of. For the reasons for this ojsinion, see page 123. — 
Whether England is to supply a greater or less portion of this increasing 
demand remains to be seen. If she continues as well prepared as she 
now is to compete with other manufacturing nations, doubtless she will 
contribute her full share to that supply. 

It will also be seen, from the annexed paper, that what I predicted (see 
page 121) in relation to the prospective competition (from the year 1840) 
in wool-growing, between the densely populated countries of Western 
Europe and those in newer settled regions, where land is cheap and popu- 
lation comparatively sparse, has already come to pass. Spain, and even 
Germany, which in 1840 supplied England with nearly twenty-two million 
pounds of wool — nearly half of the whole import of the latter — have now 
been driven almost entirely out of the English market ! But, says the 
Sydney Herald, Germany, Spain, etc., have renewed the contest in another 
form : they have extended their manufacturing operations, and now manu- 
facture their own wool. Admit this : but if German wools cannot com- 
pete with others in the English market, which are brought from fifty times 
the distance, they cannot compete with them even in the German market, 
unless the latter are kept out by duties. The German manufacturer, then, 
in working up home wools, pays more for his raw material than the Eng- 
lish manufacturer, and he cannot, therefore, compete with him in foreign 
markets, nor even in the home one, without a protective Tariff* which 
would raise the price of the English to that of the German article. — 
Tariffs materially enhancing the cost of the necessaries of life will not long 
be tolerated by the consuming millions, in regions where civilization has 
penetrated. 

It seems that Australia and Van Diemen's Land ai'e the successful com- 
petitors which have driven Germany and Spain from the English wool 
market. The views set forth by me in Letter IX. in relation to the ad- 
vantages of the former for wool-growing compared with those of Hungary, 
Southern Russia, North and South America, remain the same ; indeed, a 
careful review of my positions has served to farther convince me of their 
correctness. The character of the poj^ulation, and the better commercial 
regulations of Australia, have given her a present advantage over new ri- 
vals in the Old World ; and America has not yet entered the field of com- 
petition. When the Anglo-Saxon of North America enters the lists with 
the Anglo-Saxon of Australia, natural advantages will not, as now, be 



HM SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

overbalanced by superior energy and enterprise. The Anglo-Australian 
will, to say the least of it, meet his full equal in these particulars. And, 
on the other hand, there is not a rational doubt that the natural and other 
present advantages of all kinds are on the side of the Anglo -American. The 
portion of North America included in the proper wool-growing zone is 
immensely greater than in Australia ; our climate, all things considered — 
considering the occasional terrible drouths of Australia — is the best; our 
lands are cheaper, and will certainly average as good, including our whole 
Atlantic coast, and including only our territory between the Apalachians 
and the Rocky Mountains, our land will average by far the best ; labor is 
not dearer among us ; we are not a quarter as distant from the English 
markets ; the wool from all parts of our immense interior, instead of be- 
ing dragged long and expensive journeys in "bullock drays," is already 
whirled along by steam, or boated on canals or rivers to the seaboard, at 
a comparatively trifling expense. It would be difficult to name a particu- 
lar, excepting in the two-cent duty, in which large portions of the United 
States have not the advantage over Australia for supplying the English 
wool market, and in other European markets we have perhaps every ad- 
vantage over that Colony. 

The Australian Wool TRAnE* — [By Wm. Westgarth, Esq.] — The importance at 
present assumed by the Australian wool trade in the lists of British Commerce, demands 
Bomo decree of attention in the history of an Australian settlement. I shall, therefore, de- 
vote the "present chapter to a short account of this branch of Commerce, in its capacity both 
of an export fi'om the Australian Colonies and an import into the British market. 

In the year 1836, the quantity of wool exported from Sydney amounted to 3,700,000 lbs. 
weight. Tlie proportion for the Port Philip disti-ict, included in this amount, could not, at 
so early a period of her existence, have exceeded 60,000 lbs. weight. Five years afterward 
the annual produce had attained to 1,578,000 lbs. ; and the lapse of a similar period, bring- 
ing us down to the year 1846, exhibits the astonishing quantity of 7,400,000 Ibs.t During 
this interval often years the quantity of wool exported from Sydney, exclusive of any from 
Australia Felix, had increased from three and a half millions to nearly twelve millions of 
pounds weight. 

The importation of wool into the British market appears, indeed — like the rise of the Aus- 
tralian Colonies — to be but a business of yesterday, and one, among numerous other in- 
stances, of the wonderful extension of Modern Commerce. In 1820, the quantity imported 
was under ten millions of pounds weight; in 1845, it had risen to seventy-six millions. The 
propoi'tion fnnn the Australian Colonies in the former year was the one-hundredth part ; it 
now foi-ms nearly one-half of the whole importation^ ; and at the steady and rapid ratio of 
the present increase of Australian wool, the lapse of a few years will exhibit a quantity far 
greater than the united total of the wool at present imported into Britain from every quar- 
ter of the world. The following Table exhibits the respective averages, in round numbers, 
for each period of five years from 1826 to 1845 ; the numbers representing millions of 
pounds weight : 

Averaije of vearg. Foreign Wool. Colonial Wool. Total 

1826-30 2.5 2 27 

1831-35 34 4 38 

1836-40 44 10 54 

1841-45 36 22 58 

1846 34 30 64 

This Table illustiates the exti-aordiiiary progress of the colonial production, three-fourth? 
of which are derived from Australia and Van Diemen's Land. 

The periodical public sales of colonial wool, which now occupy so important a position 
among the commercial occurrences of the British Capital, date their origin only so lately as 
the year 1817. The prices at that time, and for some subsequent period, were only from 
2d. to 3d. per lb. ; and it was not until twelve or fourteen years afterward that any important 
advance took place in the value of this connnodity. The fine quality of the Australian wool 

* From a new work in the press, on Port Philip. 

t The wools occasionally sent from Port Philip by way of Sydney, and appearing in the Customs' returns 
R8 Sydney exports, are here allowed for. The season or year is taken as ending on the 10th October, as 
the usual date of 3l3t December falls in the midst of the wool shipments, and cannot fairly represent the 
quantities and ratio of progress of each year. 

\ In 1846, the relative quantities imported into Britain were, in round numbers, thirty-four millions of 
pounds of foreign wool and thirty millions of cohmial. For the present year the colonial may be safely 
assumed at somewhat more than half the importation. 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 295 

began soon after to attract notice, and in 1835 and 1836 to excite the attention even of foreign 
manufacturers. From very small beginnings the extent of the periodical auction sales 
gradually increased. An unprecedented number of 750 bales was announced lor one series 
of sales in 1825 ; and for some years afterward 400 bales were considered to form a very ex- 
tensive sale. But in July, 1835, 8,746 bales were brought forward, realizing tor the better 
qualities the considerable rates of from Ss. 6d. to Ss. 8d. per pound ; and at the sales of the 
same month in 1844, there were exposed no less than 31,358 bales.* 

The celebrated wools of Austriilia are derived from two principal breeds of sheep, the 
Merino and the Saxon. The foniier is the finest in quality, but it may be doubted if an 
adequate price has been hitherto derived to compensate for the lighter weight of the fleece. 
In the Sydney distinct, attention was chiefly bestowed on the Merino ; in Van Diemen's 
Land, on the Saxon ; and the Port Philip district received a share of both, as the colonists 
fiom either locality transported their flocks to her pastmes. This mixture of breeds was 
still farther increased by occasional crosses with the Leicester and Soulh-Down. In fact 
Irom the numbers of inexperienced persons who entered on the occupation of sheep farming 
in this new settlement, and, without any fixed principles, carried on a mere random system 
of breeding, the greater portion of the wool consists of every shade of quality that natural 
accidents could produce. The abundant pasturage of Port Philip appeals also to affect the 
pure Merino wool of the Sydney district, which in the foraier locality acquiies a more open 
appearance, loses somewhat of its fineness, and increases about a quarter or half a pound in 
the weight of the fleece. The average weight of tlie good qualities of Port I'hilip fleeces, 
after washing, is from 2^ to 2| lbs. ; of the Sydney fleeces about 2^ lbs. There has been 
for several years a desire to introduce a greater uniformity of quality in the fleeces of each 
paiticular grower, and on the whole an inclination to adhere to the production of the finer 
qualities of wool. 

f Here follow details of the Australian method of washing and other preparations for shearing, which are 
omitted, as they conform in every important particular to the directions laid down in these Letters for 
those processes.] 

The wool is now ready to be packed and dispatched to the port of shipment. Each fleece 
is cleared of the locks and clippings or other unseemly portions, and is usually tied with a 
piece of strin", and tightly squeezed into bags containing about one hundred each, or from two 
hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds weight. The ponderous bullock dray is now yoked 
to its team of eight or a dozen oxen, and charged with an ample load of the gf)lden fleece, is 
dispatched from the station on its annual and protiacted mission to the port of 8hi{)ment. 

The wool on its arrival in town is now generally classed and i-e-packed at an establishment 
for that purpose, unless this process has already been competently perfonned at the station. — 
The classification distinguishes only the entire fleece ; it is not attempted to proceed to a 
minuter distinction of qualities by breaking the fleeces. When intended for sale, the wool, 
on its arrival in town, is conveniently exhibited in the various bins of the sorting establish- 
ment, and its quality and condition are fairly ascertained. At the establishment of the Messrs. 
Bakewell, in Melbotu-ne, the wool is assorted first into the two leading divisions of clothing 
and combing, and each of these descriptions is run out into five qualities, the fifth or lowest 
being the coarse Leicester breeds. Extra fine lots are classed by themselves ; stiper-greasy, 
or kempy, or other defective fleeces, aie also classed apart. The charge for sorting is |d. per 
pound. The usual charge for hand-washing is Id. per pound on the weight returned, and for 
scouring Id. to l^d. per pound. The system of re-packing is also of use in exposing any wet 
or damp that the wool may have acquired nii the way from the interior, in which condition it 
is in danger of heating and even of originating fire in the hold of a vessel during a lengthened 
voyage. 

The shipping season for the Australian staple commences toward the end of October ; but 
only a few solitary drays have succeeded in reaching town during that month. Considera- 
ble quantities have arrived by the end of November; and during the two succeeding months 
there is a continuous succession of vehicles pouring with their voluminous loads into the various 
ports of the district.! These arrivals begin to fall oft' in February; but during that and the 
two succeeding months considenible quantities continue to be shipped, including the later shorn 
fleeces of the young lambs. The shipment of other exports, which are comparatively of un- 
important amount, terminates with that of the wool. A solitary vessel may linger tillJuly or 
August, when the transactions of the season are finally closed. 

The following from a late number of the Sydney Herald may be well appended to the 
above : 



* This included a small quantity of foreign wool. The proportion from Austi-alia and Van Diemen's 
Land on this occasion was 2ti,l:J4 bales. The early sales were held at Garraway's, and continued there 
from 1817 to 1843. when the locality was transtened to the Ball of Commerce, where they still continue. 
The first bale at the first sale, from the novelty of the circumstance, realized 10s. fid. per pound. 

[Murk Lane Express, 7th, 14(h, and 21st Oct. 1844. 

t There are five shipping ports in Australia Felix ; namely, Melbourne, or its port of VViliiametown, Gee- 
long, Portland, Belfast, and Port Albert, or Alberton, in Uipps'a Land. The quantity for the present year 
(1847) may be estimated at about 28,000 bales, of which five-sixths are shipped at Williamstown and 
Geelong. 



296 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 

'• Our two time-honored competitors in the production of fine wool, Spain and Germany, 
have been fairly beaten out of the field. The climate and pasturage of these colonies, and of the 
congenial settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, backed by the energies of their Anglo-Saxon 
race of flock-masters, have more than compensated for our greater distance h-om British mar- 
kets. We have been enabled to supply a good article — in vast and ever-increasing quanti- 
ties — and at prices which, notwithstanding the cost of carriage, have, through our facilities of 
prodiicrion, left us a remunerating profit, but which our ancient rivals have found to be in- 
sufficient to replace prime cost. 

" But although Spain and Germany have ceased to vie with us as sellers of the raw mate- 
rial in England, they have done so only to renew the contest in another form. They have 
enlarged their manufacturing operations. Since they can no longer sell their fleece at a profit, 
they have resolved on working it up in their own looms. To that extent, therefore, they will 
cease to import wrought woolen fabrics ; and in so far as their imports were from Great 
Britain, there will be a corresponding decrease in the British consumption of our wools. The 
■woolen cloths imported into those two countries from Great Britain, in the year 1841, amounted, 
in declared value, to £1.026,481 sterling: and if we add the quantities imported in the same 
year into Holland and Belgium, the amount would have been about a million and a half We 
must therefore be cautious, as prudent men, not to allow our spirits to be too much exhilarated 
by the apparent victory we have gained over ' our hereditary enemies,' seeing that, though 
seemingly vanquished, they have but shifted their position and varied their tactics. 

" A judicious writer says, in 1844 : ' Of late years cottons have, from their cheapness, in a 
great degree superseded the lower qualities of cloths — a circumstance which, joined to the 
increasing rivalry of France, Germany and Belgium, renders it improbable, unless new mar- 
kets shall be opened in China or elsewhere, that much extension will in future be given to 
our maiivfacture of woolen cloths.'* 

" While, however, the Spanish and the German wool-growers have thus ceased (or are 
expected veiy shortly to cease) to compete with us as exporters to England, another com- 
petitin- has sprung up in a new and quite unexpected quarter. In addition to corn, bread- 
stuffs, rice, tobacco, cotton, sugar, and an endless catalogue of ' notions,' m which Brother 
Jonathan has hitheito prided himself as a mighty producer, he has now taken it into his 
head that he can breed sheep and export wool on a large scale. And it would seem that in 
England his whim has by no means been thought whimsical. For, say certain Liverpool 
brokers to him, Tuider date of 3d September, 1846: 'The arrivals of wool from the United 
States last year, for the first time to any extent, made quite a sensation in this country, as it 
was generally considered that you required to import these qualities, and there was no 
knowledge that your growth of wool was of such importance. We have seen it estimated 
at sixty-five million 'pounds ;\ and from your vast (and to us almost incredible) means of 
production, we believe it will cause a kind of revolutionin the wool trade.' 

" Jonathan's own opinion of the matter is thus expressed through the medium of the New- 
Orleans Commercial Times : ' Wool can be grown as cheaply, and to as great advantage, in 
the cotton growing States as in any part of the world. There is nothing in the climate to 
prevent it. If it may be found desirable to grow that of the finest grades, it can be done 
without fear of the animals becoming covered with hair in a few years.' He has evidently 
some misgivings, however, as to the policy of his attempting the finest grades, lor he imme- 
diately subjoins, ' However, we are inclined to think that wool of a coarser quality will be 
found most profitable, mutton being also an object with us.' 

" If the United States already produce four times the quantity of wool that we do, and if 
there is a reasonable chance of their producing it of a quality equal to ours, and at no greater 
cost, then have we indeed much to fear from their formidable rivalry. The vast extent of 
their territory, the almost illimitable resources of their soil and climate, the indomitable spirit 
of their citizens, combined with their proximity to the British market, will render their com- 
petition, if successful at all, successful in no ordinary degi-ee. 

" ' Wool,' says another Liverpool correspondent, addressing an American, 'requires in its 
production ^reat attention in crossing the breed, otherwise the quality degenerates very 
quickly. The maintenance of its fineness depends also very much on the nature of the pas- 
turage on which the sheep graze. And we may remark that your own samples are of a par- 
ticularly good hind.' " 

Here is a word of encouragement for the Americans, with a word of caution for the Aus- 
tralians. Of the two requisites for the production and preservation of a superior staple, one, 
suitable pasturage, is bountifully supplied to the Australian grower by Nature, while the 
other depends upon his own industry and skill. In this, it is to be feared, he has scarcely 
been just to himself He has possibly presumed too much upon the natural advantages of 
the fine sheep-sustaining country in which his capital is staked. It will be well if this note 
of warning from the land of Stars and Stripes shaJl rouse him to a more vigilant attention. 

[Simmonds's Colonial Magazine. 

* Waterton's Cyclopeedia of Commerce, p. 672. 

t The qunntitv of wool exported from New South Wales, including the district of Port Philip, in the year 
1843, was 17,564,734 lbs. 



APPENDIX. 



ON SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN SOUTH CAROLINA. " 

Report on the Value of Sheep Husbandry. Read to the Agricultural Society, Pendleton, 

South Carolina. 

In obedience to your resolution, requiring your committee to " report on 
Sheep Husbandry in the South," they beg leave to say that the resolution 
would seem to require a more extended examination than could be embraced 
in a report of an ordinary length. 

They will therefore confine themselves to that part of the subject which, 
in their estimation, will best show the applicability and value of sheep hus- 
bandry to our neighborhood and section. 

Although but little attention is given by any of us, to raising sheep, and 
by none to preparing wool for a foreign market, yet it will be admitted, that 
our native stock are healthy, growing to a fair size and produce a fair fleece, 
from two to five pounds, even under the great neglect with which they are 
treated. 

There is, however, one question necessary to examine, and that is, 
whether the quality and quantity of the fleece deteriorate in our climate. The 
question has been very fully examined by Mr. H. S. Randall, a very intel- 
ligent and experienced wool grower in Cortland, New York. From his 
excellent letters, published in the Farmers' Library, (the perusal of which 
I take pleasure in recommending to the members of this society,) I draw the 
following statement : 

" It is known that from Spain (north latitude 36 to 44 degrees) all the 
fine wooled flocks have sprung. And that in Saxony (north latitude 50 to 
51 degrees 80 minutes) the Spanish Merino wool has been improved in 
fi.neness of fibre but lessened in quantity. In New York (north latitude 42 
to 44 degrees) the fineness of the Spanish Merino is preserved and quantity 
increased. In Vermont (north latitude 43 to 45 degrees) the fineness and 
quantity of the Saxony wool are preserved." 

South of us, in Madison county, Mississippi, (north latitude 32 degrees, 
41 minutes,) the wool of the Saxony sheep has been found to maintain its 
original fineness, and increased in quantity. Recent experiments in Aus- 
tralia (south latitude 33 degrees 55 minutes) show that fine Avooled sheep 
(the Merino) preserve the quantity and improve in quality of fleece. 

The exports of vi^ool from there iu 1810 was only . - . . - 167 lbs. 
" " in 1833 « .... 3,510,869 " 

« " " in 1843 " - - - - 16,-22G,400 " 

In 1834, London price for best Spanish Merino, was .... 67 cts. 

" Australian Merino, - - - - - - - - 100 " 

« EngUsh wool, 48 " 

2 E 297 -^ 



298 APPENDIX. 

In England, (north latitude 50 to 56 degrees,) from some cause not yet 
settled, fine wool cannot be grown. 

Near the Cape of Good Hope, (south latitude 34 minutes,) Merino Sheep 
do well, maintaining both quality and quantity of fleece with Spain. 

The latitude of Pendleton is 34 degrees 40 minutes, but counting a de- 
gree for every 200 feet altitude, Avould throw us some twelve degrees farther 
north, and between the latitudes of Spain and Saxony. 

So far then as latitude is concerned, experiments have been made both 
north and south of us, vi^hich show, that here, Spanish Merino wool neither 
degenerates in quality nor quantity of fleece. 

It is also known that rich succulent green food generally adds length to 
fibre, but does not always make fine wool coarser, at least between latitude 
28 and 50 degrees north, nor does it make coarse wool finer. Humidity 
and dryness of atmosphere seem to have, as well as climate, some influence 
on the fibre. But as yet, the laws which govern the fleece have not been 
satisfactorily ascertained. It is sufficient for the present inquiry that experi- 
ments verify the operation, that in this latitude Merino wool will not become 
coarser, nor the coarse long wool become finer, if each stock be kept pure. 
And as the climate is well adapted to both, the choice of stocks may very 
well be left to the fancy of those who try either. 

We come now to test the value of sheep husbandry to this section of 
country. There are many methods by which this can be done. I shall, 
however, take the simple one of comparing the profits of this with the other 
pursuits of the country. 

It is acknowledged in the Northern States that growing wool is a good 
business there, and I will first give a table from Mr. Randall's letter, show- 
ing the profits of growing wool in New York : 

A. buys 100 ewes at $2, - - . $200 00 

" 33i acres of land at $20, 666 66 

Cutting and curing 11 acres of the above for hay, - - • - 13 65 

Pay for shearing, .......... 4 00 

For salt, tar, and summer care, ....-.-. 4 00 

For labor of winter feeding, 5 00 

Loss by death 2 per cent, above pulled wool from those that die, - 4 00 



37 31 



RECEIPTS. 

300 lbs. wool at 394, $118 71 

80 lambs at §1, 80 00 

Summer manure equal to winter care, .... 5 00 



$203 71 

This is equal to 24 per cent, on the amount invested, and makes the cost 
of the wool to the farmer 27 cents per pound. A calculation founded on 
the same data for Pendleton makes the result more favorable : 

A. buys 100 ewes at $1, $100 00 

Pays for shearing, 4 00 

For salt, tar, 2 00 

Loss 2 per cent, above skins and wool of those that die, - - - 2 00 
I make no charge for summer pasture, because it costs nothing, nor should 
rye or barley pastures for winter be charged; the crop is reaped after- 
wards. But charge it at 20 cents per head, 20 00 

One hand's attention an hour in the morning to turn to pasture, and an hour 
in tlie evening to pen ; this is one-sixth part of his time. Say his whole 
time is worth $72 ; one-sixth is - - 12 00 

Total outlay and expense for feeding one year, - - $140 00 



APPENDIX. 299 



KECEIPTS. 

2 lbs. wool per head is 200 lbs., at 20 cents, - - - $40 00 
80 lambs at $1 when one year old, 80 00 

$120 00 

This is 85 per cent. In this instance the wool co.sts the farmer nothing. 
Deduct $90, the value of the original stock of ewes at the commencement 
of the next year, from $140, the total outlay, and you have $50, which the 
value of the lambs more than equal. 

Compare it with farming or planting : 

A. buys a negro for $700 00 

Furnishes him with fifteen acres of land at $5, - - - - - 75 00 

Half the expenses of a horse and plough, 50 00 

For his board and clothing, 20 00 

$845 00 

RECEIPTS. 

His labor, 160 barrels corn at 40 cents, .... $64 00 
5 bags cotton at $30 a bag, 150 00 

$214 00 

This is equal to 25 per cent., certainly as much as any man in this 
neighborhood makes. I have purposely made this large estimate that no 
one can say it is under the truth. 

B. buys 500 ewes and 20 bucks, common stock, at $1, - - <• $520 00 

Employs a shepherd, 175 00 

Pays 20 cents for winter feed per head, 104 00 

Pays for tar and salt, 20 00 

B. has $76 less than A. in the outlay, $819 00 

KECEIPTS. 

3 lbs. wool per head is 1560 lbs. at 20 cents, - $312 00 

80 lambs to the 100 ewes is 400 lambs at $1, - - 400 00 

712 00 

Deduct for loss over skins and wool of those that die, 2 per cent., 18 40 

$693 60 

The outlay of A. ($890) brings him $210, equal to 25 per cent. The 
outlay of B. (S819) brings him $(393 60, equal to 85 per cent. 

This calculation will do for the neighborhood of Pendleton or lower down, 
where sheep have to be fed during the winter. But for all that part of 
Pickens and Greenville district, extending south for twenty-six or thirty 
miles from the foot of the mountains, the profits would be larger. For in 
that belt of country, I am informed by many residents — General Garvin 
among them — that the rm^ge affords sufficient food for sheep the entire year. 
Even when snow is on the ground, they paw the snow away and get sus- 
tenance from the winter grass. 

For that section I would alter the calculation thus : 

B. buys 500 ewes artd 20 bucks, $520 00 

Pays for a shepherd, - - - - - - - - - -175 00 

Pays for salt and tar, 20 00 

$715 00 

KECEIPTS. 

1560 lbs. wool at 20 cents, $312 00 

90 lambs to the 100 ewes is 450 at $1, - - - 450 00 

762 00 

Deduct for loss 2 per cent, over skins and wool of tliose that die, 19 00 
Making $28 more than 100 per cent. ^"'^'^ ^*^ 



300 APPENDIX. 

But try it on a scale that every one can compare with his own expe- 
rience. 

B. buys 3 ewes and 1 buck for $4 00 

He shears 12 lbs. of wool at 20 cents, 2 40 

2 lambs at $1, 2 00 

Over 100 per cent. 4 40 

These are suppositions. Take what has actually occurred in Pickens 
district. Mr. Stribling, as I am informed by himself, bought one ewe 
for $1 : 

In 1846 she had 3 lambs, - $3 00 

Sheared 2 lbs. wool at 20 cents, .-.-.. 40 

$3 40 

In 1847, same ewe had 2 lambs, ...... 2 00 

Sheared again 2 lbs. wool at 20 cents, ..... 40 

Each one of the last year's lambs had a lamb apiece, - - 3 00 

And sheared from the 3, 6 lbs. wool at 20 cents, - - - 1 20 

6 60 

This is an increase of eight in two years from one ewe, and Mr. Stribling 
says at this time the whole are alive. I admit this is an extraordinary case, 
and it is only mentioned to show there are cases of actual increase far 
above any of those calculations made above. 

If, then, the climate be not only adapted to fine wool, but also to the 
coarse — if the range, which is abundant and sufficient to feed a flock the 
entire year; and if the above calculations are founded on data anywhere 
near correct, what more can be desired to show the applicabihty and value 
of sheep husbandry to this section. 

From three very respectable wool growers, one from each of the states of 
Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, I was told the way to make a calcu- 
lation on the profits of sheep husbandry in a reasonably safe way, was to 
put down every year one-ninth less of lambs than you have ewes, and then 
deduct one-tenth from the whole for deaths in that year. 

Thus, say you have ......... IQO ewes. 

From 100 deduct one-ninth, and you have ...... 89 lambs. 

189 
Then deduct one-tenth for deaths, - - - - - - -18 

And you have - - - - - - - - - - -171 

To start with the next year. On this basis I have taken one hundred ewes 
and run the calculation on for eight years. The result was : 

Wool sheared in eight years, - - - 17,190 lbs. 

The gentlemen above alluded to, say that half the wool will pay all ex- 
penses, even when the winters require five months' feed : 

Deduct, then, one-half, 8,595, at 20 cents, $1719 00 

The increase amounted to 2067 sheep, at $1, .... 2067 00 

Total, $3786 00 

This result, if attained, would exceed fifty per cent, compounded. They 
say, too, it is a safe estimate to say that the lambs of each year will pay the 
expenses of the whole flock for that year in Pennsylvania. They more than 



APPENDIX. 301 



do it here. Allow eighty Iambs to one hundred ewes, and you have from 
five hundred ewes, four hundred Iambs ; deduct one-tenth for deaths, and 

You have 360 at $1, $300 00 

Charge 20 cents per head for 900 sheep, makes - - - 180 00 

Charge for shepherd, - 150 00 — 330 00 

Lambs over-pay expenses by $39 qo 

All these calculations are made on the supposition that sheep get a part 
of that regular attention which all farmers give to their other domestic ani- 
mals. And to make sheep husbandry successful, it is not only necessary 
that this attention should be given, but every one who attempts it should 
know something of their diseases and the cures, and also the summer and 
winter management. This can be acquired only by their own, or the ex- 
perience of others. Easy access can be had to the experience of northern 
wool growers, who are proverbial for being close observers. They say the 
disease called the " scours" is the principal one to which sheep are liable, 
produced by excess of rich green food, and cured easily by a change to 
dry, but if allowed to continue, is fatal. 

From the introduction into the United States, in 1S08, of Merino sheep 
from Spain, owners of this stock have considered it of the first importance 
to preserve the quality and quantity of their fleece, and if possible, to im- 
prove both. They ascertained that lambs from young and healthy sires 
improved, while those from old ewes fell back both in quality and quantity 
of fleece. 

Among them it is now a settled practice not to breed from ewes over 
seven or eight, nor from bucks over six years old. It is very important to 
resort to the evidence of age the teeth afford. Their books have been par- 
ticular in describing these evidences, which I will copy: "During the first 
year, lambs have eight small teeth in front, in the upper jaw, called nippers ; 
at a year old, the centre two shed, and two larger teeth take their place. 
At two years old, the next two are lost, and supplied by two larger ones. 
Thus losing and being supplied by two larger ones annually, till five — then 
they have a full set. At eight or nine they begin to lose their nippers — two 
every year — and by thirteen or fourteen years old, they have lost their 
entire set." 

It is evident that during the time ewes are losing their teeth, they become 
less and less able to supply themselves with food, consequently afford less 
and less milk for their young. Thus the degeneracy is accounted for. In 
Vermont, where wool is as much their staple as cotton in South Carolina, 
so important do they consider it not to breed from ewes after they begin to 
lose teeth, that although mutton is not used by the inhabitants for the table, 
they sell their old stock to be fed to hogs. 

In most of the other northern states, their ewes at that age are kept from 
the bucks, and fattened for market. From their known skill in managing- 
well what they undertake, we may safely take their usage as a guide, when 
it is applicable to our situation. With them grass is the entire food of their 
flocks — green meadows for summer pasture and hay for winter. Their win- 
ters require five months' constant feeding, during which they estimate each 
sheep to consume fifty cents worth of hay. All stock is then kept enclosed, 
and the attention to turning sheep to pasture in summer, and feeding sheep 
in winter, requires but little labor in addition to their other stock. 

Flocks require close attention but at three times in the year — the tupping, 
the lambing, and shearing seasons. Ewes go with lamb one hundred and 
twenty-five days, or five months, and they so manage as to have the lambs 



302 APPENDIX. 



brought in April and May ; (here February is esteemed by many a better 
month.) To do this, the bucks must be kept impounded, except at the 
time desired. From the great superiority of early lambs, this part of sheep 
husbandry is esteemed very important. 

During lambing season, close attention is required to guard both ewe and 
lamb from storms and cold winds — to see that the ewe acknowledges her 
lamb, and to keep up the marking and altering as the lambs get between 
five and ten days old. 

Ten days previous to shearing time they prepare for it by washing the 
wool on the sheep's back, that the natural oil of the wool, which is destroyed 
by the washing, may have time to be renewed, without which the wool feels 
and works harsh. The washing is done at spouts or pools, prepared for the 
purpose, and the other flocks are kept on clean pastures till sheared. As 
the proper preparation of an article for market is justly considered of the 
next importance to a good article, I will describe this process minutely, as 
practised for the northern market. The shearing is done on a clean floor, 
and each fleece is kept unbroken. When sheared, it is rolled outside in, 
until it is reduced to a lump about ten inches each way, and then tied with 
strings in two places. For packing the wool, a bag is used nearly as large 
as our cotton bags, which, after seviring to a hoop at top, they hang through 
a hole in an upper floor, a little less in diameter than the hoop ; here the 
fleeces are packed down by the foot, the weight of an ordinary sized man 
being a sufficient pressure. Thus finished, the wool is ready for a northern 
or European market. Manufacturers will not give full price for wool unless 
the fleeces are unbroken ; because, before manufacturing, they consider it 
necessary to have each fleece divided into five qualities, which they cannot 
do if the wool of different fleeces is emptied together. 

Different modes of summer management are followed in different coun- 
tries. The one followed in Australia, as described by Mr. Randall, is not 
only less troublesome, but would be better suited to our mountain region. 
There they roam over the plains, under charge of a shepherd, in flocks of 
three hundred to one thousand. Every night, some two or more of these 
flocks are penned together, during the entire year. Breeding promiscuously 
from the bucks that run with the flocks, allowing three or four to the hun- 
dred ewes. At the Cape of Good Hope, he says the same practice pre- 
vails ; and from both of these places the wool exported is equal, and in some 
instances superior in quality to the Merino. 

The statements here given, Mr. President, we have carefully considered, 
and believe to be true — and we submit them under the belief that if the im- 
portance of sheep husbandry was duly considered, especially by the districts 
lying north and contiguous to the mountains, much additional comfort and 
wealth might be added to that already delightful region. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 



R. F. SIMPSON. 



Note. — Since this report was read, I have been informed by Mr. Thomas 
M. Sloan, that his wool does not cost him more than five cents a pound — 
and by Mr. Morris, at Pickens C. H., that for care, shearing, &c., of a 
small flock of eight ewes, worth eight dollars, kept on Ocone mountain, -he 
paid one-half of the spring clipping, equal to three-quarters of a pound per 
head, and that from them he had, after paying all expenses, $3 60, and eight 
lambs worth eight dollars — $11 60. And by Mr. Shepherd, a tenant on 



APPENDIX. 303 



Mr. J. O. Lewis's Tamosa estate, that in 1846 he took with him from Green- 
ville a few sheep, 

Among which were 4 ewes, worth --.-.. .$4 00 

They had 4 lambs, worth - - - - - - - 4 00 

Thinks he sheared 3 lbs. per head, but say 2, which is 8 lbs. at 20 cts. 1 60 — 5 60 

In 1848, from 8 sheared 14 lbs. wool at 20 cents, - - - 2 80 

And had 8 lambs, worth - - - - - - - 7 00 — 9 80 



$15 40 



Salt and shearing' was the only expense. He had only offered to feed 
them once in the two years, and then they refused to taste corn shelled to 
them. 



H. ANCRUM ON WOOL MATTRESSES. 

Ashley, Pike county. Mo. 

A sound man in one night of seven hours' sleep, generally perspires fifty 
ounces avoirdupois or four pounds troy weight ; we cannot wonder at that, 
since there are above three hundred thousand millions of pores in the body 
of a middle-sized man, and that in the last hours of sleep one perspires 
most ; hence the impropriety and the weakness of lying too long in a soft 
bed, and the necessity of lying on a comparatively hard elastic bed, such as a 
wool mattress. In France, wool mattresses are generally adopted, conse- 
quently you never meet with a bad bed there. I have travelled all over 
France, and never met with a bad bed, and a very recent intelligent Ameri- 
can traveller of great observation, mentions, on his removal from England 
to France, that he found the French beds delicious, because the beds are 
wool mattresses. 

Mode of Making a Wool Mattress. — The first thing to constitute a good 
healthy bed is, that it must be absolutely flat, therefore all bedsteads should 
have wooden laths instead of sacking, which always gives and forms a hol- 
low ; the wool is carded by hand, and all knots and extraneous matter taken 
out ; the great point is to make it thick enough. The best bed I slept in, 
in my life, had sixty pounds of wool in it, but the bed was a very large extra 
size ; half that quantity will make a small bed, but if you wish to He 
luxuriously, yet hard, do not stint the wool, that makes all this difference ; 
it lasts for ever — the covering is washed once a year; the wool is carded, 
and a few pounds of wool added, and the bed is sweet a«d new. However 
luxuriously he may be, let any gentleman have a good wool mattress made, 
and let him ride forty or fifty miles and thoroughly fatigue himself, he will 
then know the value of such a bed. My object is also to increase the home 
consumption of our wool. There are twenty odd millions in the United 
States ; say five to each family, four millions ; saj'- three beds to each 
family, taking the whole population, twelve millions ; say thirty pounds of 
wool to each bed, three hundred and sixty millions of pounds of wool ; say 
thirty-four millions of sheep in the United States, say eighty million pounds 
of wool; this will consume more than four j^ears' clip of our wool. This 
ought to be promulgated to increase the consumption of our wool, and such 
wool as cannot be sold abroad. Independent of the benefit to all in theii 
health, who adopt wool mattresses on account of their cleanliness and dura- 
bility, in the end, they are cheaper than any other bedding. 

Every thing that increases the home consumption of our wool is of na- 
tional importance, as is every thing that will promote the general health of 



304 APPENDIX. 



our people. In this changeable and rigorous climate in winter, if all were 
to wear flannel, particularly narrow-chested and delicate females, it would 
be of the greatest benefit to their health, and save them many a fit of sick- 
ness. When we consider how cheap the English sell their Welsh flan- 
nel, it ought to stimulate our manufacturers ; I must, however, observe, that 
I never purchased any flannel in the United States equal to the real Welsh 
flannel, or that did not shrink, or that wore near so long as the English 
flannel. The English flannel has a nap on both sides, which renders it 
warm and soft, and it washes soft to the last. The United States flannel 
that 1 have used washes harsh, and the wear is not near so agreeable as 
real Welsh flannel, but surely all these difliculties can be overcome by our 
people, and they can make as good flannel as the best Welsh flannel. 

It is well known that woollen clothes, such as flannels, worn next the skin, 
promote insensible perspiration. May not this arise principally from the 
strong attraction which subsists between wool and the watery vapor which is 
continually issuing from the human body ? That it does not depend entirely 
on the warmth of that covering is clear, because one degree of warmth produced 
by wearing more clothing of a different kind does not produce the same effect. 
The perspiration of the human body being absorbed by a covering of flannel, 
it is immediately distributed through the whole thickness of that substance, 
and by this means exposed by a very large surface to be carried off' by the 
atmosphere, and the loss of the watery vapor which the flannel sustains on 
the one side by evaporation, being immediately restored from the other in 
consequence of the strong attraction between the flannel and this vapor, the 
pores of the skin are disencumbered, and they are continually surrounded 
with a dry and salubrious atmosphere. It is astonishing that the custom 
of wearing flannel next the skin should not have prevailed more universally; 
it is certain it would prevent a number of diseases, and there certainly is no 
greater luxury than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, 
after one is accustomed to it. It is a mistaken notion that it is too warm 
clothing for summer ; it may be worn in the hottest climates, at all seasons 
of the year, without the least inconvenience arising from wearing it.* It is 
the warm-bath of a perspiration confined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, 
which renders the summer heats of southern climates so insupportable; but 
flannel promotes perspiration and favors its evaporation, and evaporation, 
as it is well known, produces positive cold. I can vouch for the truth of 
every word of this. I wear the same kind of flannel all summer as I do in 
winter with sleeves ; when I take extra exercise and perspire freely, my 
body and flesh is always cool and comfortable, and in part I owe it to wear- 
ing flannel that I h^ve never had either fever or ague in this western coun- 
try, which is full of it. All this may appear trivial, and sanitary rules are 
disregarded, but it is all of the utmost importance and to all. Say fifteen 
millions of our people wear flannel next their skin, and three flannel waist- 
coats to each, that is forty-five millions of waistcoats, at two yards each, 
(not enough with sleeves as they ought to be made,) ninety millions of yards 
of flannels in Avaistcoats only. Old people, delicate women and children, 
and above all, consumptive people, ought all to wear flannel drawers as well 
as a flannel waistcoat ; if this was adopted, the great sickness that prevails 
in the United States would be miuch diminished. Men drink spirituous 
liquors to increase the animal heat, and feel that glow that is called com- 
fortable. Let them wear flannel next their skin instead, and keep the body 
warm and the head cooL 

* The firemen in steamboats could not exist if they wore linen instead of flannel shirts. The pleasant- 
est of all mattresses is one made of a mixture of wool and hair. [Eds. Plough, Loom, and Anvil.] 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abdomen, the. Page 228. 

contents of the, 228—233. 
Abomasum, cut of the, 228. 

structure and functions of the, 229. 
Acarus of scab, cut of the, 259. 

description and habits of the, 258 — 259. 

how produced, 258. 
Acetate of copper. See Verdigris. 
Afghanistan, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 118. 
Africa, (exclusive of Cape of Good Hope,) 
sheep of, 151. 

exports of wool to England from, 110. 

exports of wool to U. S. in 1846, 124. 

quality of wool exported from, 90. 
Age, determined by the teeth, 237, 238. 

names indicative of the, 237. 

length of, in difl'erent breeds, 156, 157. 
Agrostis (stricta) vulgaris. See Herds-grass. 
Air-cells, description of the, 235. 
Alabama, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

value of woollen goods manufactured in, 
17. 

price of land in, 60. 

adaptation of mountain lands of, to sheep 
husbandry. 47. 
Ale, the use of, in sheep medicine, 274. 
Allegheny mountains. See Apalachiaii moun- 
tains. 
Allspice, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Aloes, use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Alum, use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Anatomy of the sheep, 227, 238. 

how far necessary to be studied, 227. 

proper subjects for the study of, 227. 

directions tor studying, 227, 228. 
Animals which destroy sheep in the South, 
64. 

in Australia, 65. 

at the Cape of Good Hope, 65. 

how guarded against, 65. 
Antimony, the use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Aorta, the, 234. 

Apalachian mountains of U. S., where 
situated, 30. 

area occupied by, 30. 

geology and soils of, 30, 31,43,44, 46,49. 

altitude of, 43. 

grasses which flourish on, 43, 44, 47, 59, 
62. 
/ adaptation of, to pasturage, 44, 46, 47, 

59, 62. 
:limate on, 44 — 51, 59. 

price of lands on, 44, 46 — 48, 59. 
Apoplexy, confounded with grub in the head, 
258. 

cause and treatment of, 251 — 253. 



Arachis. See Pindars. 

Arctium lappa, injurious to wool, 131. 

Argentine Republic. See Buenos Ayres. 

Arsenic, the use of, in sheep practice, 275. 

Arteries, the, 234. 

Artichokes, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Ashes, as a fertilizer in the South, 67. 

leached, 67. 

analysis of, 67. 
Asia. See names of countries of. 

exports of wool from to U. S. in 1846, 
124. 
Asiatic sheep. See Broad-tailed sheep. 
Asia Minor, adaptation of, to sheep hus- 
bandry, 118. 
Auricles of the heart, the, 234. 
Australia, introduction of sheep into, 25. 

introduction of Merinos into. 25. 

effect of climate of, on quality of wool, 
25—29. 

wools of, compared with Spanish, 26. 

wools of, compared with Saxon, 26. 

exports of wool from, 25. 

exports ofwool brought down tol846, 294. 

how sheep are managed in, 26. 

sheep husbandry of, compared with 
Saxon, 26. 

general adaptation of, to sheep hus>- 
bandry, 25, 119—121. 

soils and products of, 119. 

price of land and labor in, 119 — 12L 

climate of, 120. 

remarkable drouths of, 120. 

wild beasts in, destructive to sheep, 121'. 

vast distance of, from European markets^ 
121. 

prospect of the increase of wool in, 121. 

note giving statistics of wool trade of, 
brought down to 1846, 294. 
Austria, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 
114,116. See Germany and Hungary. 

soils of, 1 14. 

climate of, 115. 

management of sheep in, 139. 

exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846', 
124. 
Aquafortis, use of, in sheep practice, 276. 

B. 

Baden, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

114. 
Bakewell, Mr., the former of the New Lei- 
cester breed, 142. 
the conduct of, as a feeder, censured, 
143, 249. 
Barley, value of, in producing live weight, 
wool and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
value of straw of, as a fodder, 213. 
straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
2 a 305 



INDEX. 



Barns for sheep, cut of. Page 205. 

ground-plan of, with sheds and yards, 
209. 
Barrack for hay, description and cut of, 209. 
Bavaria, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

114, 115. 
Beans, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Beet field, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

white Silesian, value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Belgium, exports of wool from, 110. 

exportsofwoolfrom, toU. S. in 1846, 124. 

late increase of manufactures in, 294. 
Beloochistan, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 118. 
Bermuda grass in the South, 38. 

its enormous product, 38. 

its adaptation to meadow or pasture, 38. 

its adaptation to barren sands, 38. 
Bichloride of mercury, use of, in sheep me- 
dicine, 275. 
Biflex canal, description of, 238. 

disease of, 261. 
Bile, account of the, 231. 
Biliary duct, description of the, 231. 
Bladder, the, 233. 
Blain, unusual in U. S., 222. 
Blankets for slaves, description of, 87, 90. 

cost of manufacturing, 87, 90 — 92. 
Bleeding, place for, 273, 274. 

rules for, 274. 

the quantity of blood to be abstracted in, 
274. 
Blood, the circulation of the, 235. 

the importance of purity of, in breeding, 
168, 171, 172. 
Blue grass, as the food of sheep, 212. 

in the North, 33. 

in the South, 37. 

on the Southern mountains, 44, 47, 48. 
Blue Ridge of mountains, location of, 30. 
Also, see Apalachians. 

geology of, 30. 

soils and products of, 31, 44 — 47, 59. 

advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 
44—47, 59. 
Bone dust, as a manure in the South, 67. 
Bot. See Grub in the Head. 
Box for feeding grain to sheep, cut of, 203. 

for dipping lambs, cut of, 192. 
Brain, description of the, 236. 
Brazil, a portion of, in wool zone, 105. 

exports of wool from, 110. 

exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846, 
124. 
Breeding, principles of, 168 — 172. 

importance of selection in, 168, 190. 

in and in, effects of, 169. 

in and in, how avoided, 170, 172. 

crossing, when admissible in, 170. 

crossing, how conducted, 172. 

crossing, method of starting flocks in the 
South by, 170. 

crossing, importance of selecting good 
rams for, 172. 

register, how kept, 180. 
British America, exports of wool from, 110. 

to U. S. in 1846, 124. 
British West Indies, exports of wool from, 
110. 

to U. S. in 1846, 124. 
Broad-tailed sheep introduced into the U. S., 
151. 

wool and mutton of the, 151. 



Bronchial tubes, the, 235. 
Bronchitis, description and treatment of, 240. 
Bronchocele. See Goitre. 
Browse, feeding of, in winter, 217. 
Buckwheat, value of, in producing live 
weight, wool and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
value of straw of, as a fodder, 213. 
straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Buenos Ayres, advantages of, tor sheep hus- 
bandry, 105, 106. 
advantages of, for sheep husbandry, com- 
pared with U. S., 106. 
exports of wool from, 105. 
exports of wool from, to U. S., in 1846, 

124. 
pampas of, 105. 
inhabitants of, 105. 
Burdock, injurious to wool, 131. 



Cabbage, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

Cabul, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

118. 
Cachectic diseases, 254, 255. 
Camphor, use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Cape of Good Hope, 65, 119. 
Merinos introduced in, 26. 
Merinos, their increase in, 26. 
exports of wool from, 110. 
exports of, to U. S. in 1846, 124. 
wool of, compared with Australia, 26. 
advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 65, 

119. 
climate of, 26, 119. 

climate of, effect of, on quality of wool, 26. 
face of the country in, 119. 
remarkable drouths in, 119. 
prevalence of wild beasts in, 119. 
Capillaries, functions of the, 234. 
Caraway seeds, the use of, in sheep medi- 
cine, 275. 
Cardiac opening, the, 231. 
Carrots, value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Castration of rams, 180. 
Cataract, the, 239. 

Catarrh, common, description and treatment 
of, 240. 
malignant epizootic, description of, 240 — 

247. 
malignant epizootic, ravages of, in U. S., 

240. 
malignant epizootic, treatment of, 245, 
246. 
Catechu, use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Cattle doctor, the most dangerous of mala- 
dies, 226. 
Caul. See Omentum. 

Census of U. S., inaccurate in its wool re- 
turns, 18. 
Cerebellum, the, 236. 
Chalk, the use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Chelmsford plains, for slave cloths, 86, 90. 

quality and cost of manufacturing, 90 — 93. 
Cheviot sheep, introduction of, into U. S., 
149. 
description of, 149, 150, 154. 
low quality of their wool, 151. 
Chili, portion of, in the wool zone, 105. 
exports of wool from, 110. 
exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846, 
124. 



INDEX. 



307 



China, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

Page 118. 
Choking, treatment of, 273. 
Chyle, account of the, 231. 
Climate, not controlled by lat'tude, 104. 
of various countries compared, 104. 
range of, in which fine sheep are bred, 

17, 18. 
range of, in which .wool can be most eco- 
nomically grown, 103, 104. 
of U. S., favorable to sheep, 18, 103, 104. 
effect of, on health of sheep, 18, 103. 
effect of, on the amount of wool, 22. 
effect of, on the quality of wool, 23, 
27—29. 
Clogging sheep, how done, 193. 
Clover, red, as the food of sheep, 212. 

value of, cut in different states, as a fod- 
der, 213. 
acclimation of, in Virginia, 36. 
acclimation of, on the mountains of Vir- 
ginia, 44, 47. 
acclimation of, south of Virginia, 44,47. 
not indispensable, 44, 47. 
substitute for, as a fodder, and manuring 

crop, 39, 41. 
white, as the food of sheep, 212. 
flourishes on the southern mountains, 
45, 47. 
Coecum, cut of the, 232. 
Colic, symptoms and treatment of, 253. 
Cold storms, dangerous effects of, after shear- 
ing, 191. 
Colombia, exports of wool from, 110. 
Colon, cut of the, 232. 
Cobza, value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Copperas, sulphate of, use of, in sheep medi- 
cine, 275. 
Corn, Indian, as food for sheep, 216. 
value of, as a fodder, 213. 
blades of, as sheep fodder, 41, 212, 214. 
stalks of. as a sheep fodder, 41, 212,214. 
Corrosive sublimate, use of, in sheep medi- 
cine, 275. 
Cotswold sheep, origin of. 149. 

introduction of, into the U. S., 149. 
description of, 149. 
■ crosses of, with other breeds, 149. 
cut of, 148. 
Cotton, statistics of the crop of, 79. 
cost of growing, 79, 85. 
cost of growing, compar9d with that of 

growing wool, 85. 
should alternate with other crops, 78 — 83. 
alternating of, with wool growing pro- 

po.«ed, 81. 
rotations for such alternation proposed, 

83, 84. 
more should be grown on less land, 80, 

85. 
seed of, as a food for sheep, 216. 
Crab grass, account of the, 37. 
Creeping panic grass. See Bermuda grass. 
Crimea, advantages of, for wool growing, 
117. 
Merinos introduced in, 117. 
Crook, uses of the, described, 196. 

cut of the. 196. 
Crossing breeds and varieties, object of, 170. 
effects of, 170—172. 

advantages of, under some circumstances, 
162, 164, 170. 
Cud. loss of the, not a disease, 272. 
Cumberland grass. See Bei-muda grass. 



Cumberland mountains described, 43. Also, 

see Apalachiatis. 
the adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 

48. 
Curled kale, as food for sheep, 62. 

flourishes on southern mountains, 62 
Cynodon dactylou. See Bermuda grass'. 
Cynoglossum officinale, injurious to wool, 

174. See Hound' s-to?tgue. 
Cystisis, unusual in U. S., 238. 



D. 



Dactylis glomerata. See Orchard grass. 
Dangerous rams, how managed, 193. 
Denmark, exports of wool from, 110. 
Depots for wool. See IVool Depots. 
Diaphragm, structure and functions of, 234. 
Diarrhoea, description and treatment of, 250. 
Digestion, the process of, 229 — 231. 
Digitalis, use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Digitaria sanguinalis, account of the, 37. 
Diseases, the classification of, adopted, 226. 
same causes do not produce the same, in 

different countries, 220. 
popular superstitions concerning causes 

of, 220, 221. 
many of those of England not found in 

U. S., 221—223,238. 
difl'erence in the type of, in England and 

U. S., 224. 
treatment of, in England and U. S. dif- 
ferent, 224. 
English treatment of, too expensive, 

224, 225. 
English treatment requires too much 

skill for popular use, 225. 
English treatment, its pharmacopoeia too 

extensive, 225. 
treatment of, by "cattle doctors" dan- 
gerous, 226. 
better do too little for, than too much, 
226. 
Dissection indispensable to learn nature and 
treatment of diseases, 227. 
amount of instruction necessary to per- 
form, 227. 
directions for, 227, 228. 
proper subjects for, 227. 
Division of flocks proper in summer, 193. 

necessary in winter, 199. 
Docking sheep, necessity for, 181. 

how performed, 181, 
Dogs, sheep. See Sheep dogs. 

destruction of sheep in the South by. 64. 
legal enactments in relation to killing 

sheep by, in New York, G4. 
methods of protecting sheep from, 65. 
Down sheep. See Souihdowns. 
Dropsy, acute, unusual in U. S., 222. 
Drouths, the severe, which prevail in Aus- 
tralia and the Cape of Good Hope, 
119, 120. 
Ductus choledochus, functions of the, 231. 
Duodenum, cut of the, 232. 
Dura mater, the, 236. 
Dutch West Indies, exports of wool from, to 

U. S. in 1846, 124. 
Duties on wool in different nations. See 

Tariffs. 
Dysentery, din^erence between, and diarrbcea, 
251. 
nature and treatment of, 261. 



308 



INDEX. 



E. 



Ear, numbering sheep by notching. Page 179. 
Von Thaer's system of, 178, 179. 
cuts illustrating, 179. 
■ when done, 180. 
notcher, described, 180. 
holes in, to record age, 179. 
holes in, how made, &-c., 179. 
East Indies, increasing exports of wool from, 
110, 111. 
in what countries of the, wool is grown, 
118. 
Ellman, Mr. the great improver of the South- 
downs, 144. 
Emasculation of rams, how performed, 181. 
England, duties of, on imported wool, 106. 
table of imports of wool of, and from 
whence imported, every fifth year for 
thirty years, 110. 
imports of wool of, compared with other 

nations, 108. 
imports of, brought down to 1846, 294. 
vast increase of imports of wool of, in 

sixty-nine years, 123. 
subsequent increase in imports of, 294. 
exports of woollens from, 108. 
exports of wool from, 109. 
exports of wool from, to U. S., 110. 
exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846, 

124. 
number of sheep in, 109. 
produce of wool in, 109. 
production of wool in, does not meet the 

home consumption, 109. 
general advantages of, for wool growing, 

111. 
sheep necessary to sustain tillage of, 71. 
sheep dogs of, 286. 
Enteritis, little known in U. S., 238. 
Epiglottis, description of the, 236. 
Epilepsy, little known in U. S., 253. 
Epsom salts, the use of, in sheep medicine, 

275. 
Erysipelatous scab, 261. 
Ethmoid bone, cut of the, 236. 
Ewes, proper age of, to begin breeding, 137. 
proper number to be put to one ram, 197. 
different methods of putting to ram, 198. 
feed and management of, during preg- 
nancy, 217. 
pregnant, should be watered separately, 
199. 
Eye, inflammation of the, how treated, 239. 



F. 



Fall feeding, a good preparation for winter, 

195. 
Febrile diseases, account of the, 238 — 251. 
Feeding sheep in yards with other stock im- 
proper, 210. 
Felting property in wool accounted for, 137. 
Fences, poor ones teach sheep to jump, 194. 
Fever, inflammatory, little known in U. S., 
238. 

malignant, little known in U. S., 238. 

typhus, little known in U. S., 238. 
Flaxseed. See Linseed. 
Fleece, evenness of, important, 167. 

how prepared for folding, 187. 

how folded, 187, 188, 



Fleece, cuts of table and trough for folding 
the, 187, 188. 

proper twine for tying, 188. 

cut of, properly done up, 188. 
Florida, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 
Fluke worm, cuts of the, 248. 

account of the, 247, 248. 
Fly, its attacks and their effects, 173, 192. 

how avoided, 173, 192. 
Fodders, table of nutritious equivalents of, 
213. 

increase in weight, wool and tallow, from 
using different kinds of, 214, 215. 

table of winter variations in, for sheep, 
211. 

table of, for ewes, a month prior to 
lambing, 212. 

for winter feed of breeding ewes, 217. 

amount consumed influenced by tempe- 
rature, 217, 218. 

cereal grains for store sheep, 215, 216. 

ruta bagas for store sheep, 215, 216. 

Indian corn to be fed with care, 216. 

regularity in giving, very important, 217. 
Folding, how done in England, 72. 

objects of, in England, 72. 

inexpedient in U. S., 73. 
Folding of fleeces. See Fleecy 
Food. See Grasses and Fodders. 
Foot rot. See Hoof-ail. 
Fouls, cause and treatment of, 270. 
Foxglove. See Digitalis. 
Fractures, treatment of, 273. 
France, area of. 111. 

population of. 111. 

number of sheep in, 111. 

exports of wool from, 110. 

exports of, to U. S. in 1846, 124. 

exports of woollens from, 108. 

late increase in manufactures of, 111,296. 

imports of wool of, 108. 

duties of, on imported wool, 106. 

advantages of, for sheep husbandry. 111. 

soil and products of. 111. 
French Merinos, account of, 133. 

cut of wool of, 135. 

quality of wool of, compared with Spa- 
nish and American families, 135, 136. 

weight of fleeces of, 133. 
French sheep dogs, 285. 
Frontal bone, cut of section of, 236. 
Frontal sinuses, cut of, 236. 

locality of the bot or grub in the head, 
256. 



G. 



Gad-fly of the sheep. See CEstrus ovis. 
Gall bladder, account of the, 233. 
Garget, description and treatment of, 251. 
Gastritis, little known in U. S., 238. 
Generative organs, the, 233. 
Gentian, the use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Georgia, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 



INDEX. 



309 



Georgia, woollen goods manufactured in. 
Page 17. 
advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 42, 

59, 60. 
price of land in, 60. 
adaptation of mountain lands of, to sheep 
husbandry, 47. 
Germany, area of, 114. 
population of, 114. 
face of the country in, 114. 
soils of, 114. 
climate of, 115. 
land tenures in, 115. 

system of sheep husbandry in, 115, 139. 
method of managing sheep in, 139. 
circumstances under which the wool of, 

is grown in, 115, 116. 
export of wool from, 110, 114. 
export of woollens from, 108. 
late increase in woollen manufactures of, 

296. 
general advantages of, for woo! growing, 

114—116. 
general advantages of, compared with 

U. S., 116. 
general advantages of, Mr. Grove's 
opinion, 116. 
Gestation, period of, 197. 
Gibraltar, exports of wool from, 110. 
exports of, to U. S. in 1846, 124. 
Ginger, the use of, in sheep medicine, 275. 
Glands, the parotid, 236. 
the thyroid, 236. 
the thyroid, diseases of, 270. 
the salivary, 236. 
Glottis, account of the, 236. 
Goggles. See Hi/datid in the hrain. 
Goitre, account of the, 270, 271. 
Grain, policy of feeding to store sheep in 
winter, 215. 
best kinds of, for winter feed, 216. 
equivalents of, in nutriment, 213. 
effects oi different kinds of, in producing 
wool, tallow and muscle, 214. 
Grain box for sheep, cut and description of, 

203. 
Grasses, natural ones of the South, 36 — 39, 
44, 45, 47—49, 58, 59. 
varieties of which should be tried in the 

South, 33, 35—38. 
best acclimated ones of the South, 33, 

36—38. 
manner of forming swards of, in the 
South, 73—75. 
Great Bucharia, wool trade of, 118. 
Greece, exports of wool from, 110, 114. (In 
Table on page 110 it is called Morea.) 
advantages of, for sheep husbandry. See 
Remarks on Turkey, 104, 114. 
Grub in the head, description of the, 256, 
257. 
the larva of the Qilstrus ovis, 257. 
cuts and description of the CEstrus, 256. 
time ffistrus deposits its eggs, 256. 
locality and habits of the larva, 256, 

257. 
cuts and description of the larva, 257. 
cut and description of the chrysalis, 257. 
do the larva produce disease in the sheep ? 

257, 258. 
opinions of eminent veterinarians in rela- 
tion to, 258. 
method of preventing and expelling the 
larva, 258. 



Guano, as a manure in the South, 67. 
Guatemala, exports of wool from, 110. 
Guernsey and Man, exports of wool from, 

110. 
Gullet, obstructions of, how treated, 273. 
Gypsum as a fertilizer in the South, 67. 

H. 

Handling sheep, directions for, 174. 
Hay, different value of different qualities of, 
as fodder, 213. 
comparative value of, in producing live 

weight, wool, and tallow, 214. 
nitrogen in, 214. 
Hay holders for winter foddering described, 

211. 
Hanse Towns, exports of wool from, to U. S. 

in 1846, 124. 
Head, for proper form of, see the descrip- 
tions of the several breeds, and prin- 
ciples of breeding, 
cut of the bones ofthe, 236. 
Heart, structure and functions of the, 234, 

235. 
Hedysarum onibrichis. See Sainfoin. 
Hepatization of the lungs, description of, 

239. 
Herds grass, character of, 33, 37. 

flourishes in South Carolina, 36, 59. 
flourishes on the mountains of North 

Carolina, 44. 
the soils adapted to, 37. 
Hindostan, wools exported from, 108. 
Holland, exports of wool from, 110. 

exports of wool trom, to U. S. in 1846, 

124. 
exports of woollens from, 108. 
Honeycomb, or second stomach. See Eet'i- 

culiim. 
Hooding dangerous rams, how done, 193. 
Hoof, periodical shortening of the, necessary, 
183. 
best time and method for cutting the, 

183. 
cut of toe-nippers for shortening the, 183. 
Hoof-ail, erroneous statements of English 
writers concerning, 262. 
author's experience with the, 262. 
consecutive symptoms of, 263. 
treatment of, 264 — 269. 
preparation of the foot for treatment in 

the different stages of, 265. 
common remedies for, 265, 266. 
common method of treating, ineffectual, 

264. 
effectual method of treating, 266, 267. 
effectual method of treating, expense of, 

267. 
cheap method of keeping under, 267, 

268. 
cheap method of keeping under, cuts of 

arrangements for, 267, 268. 
evident contagiousness of, 269, 270. 
propagated by inoculation, 269, 270. 
is it propagated otherwise than by ino- 
culation? 270. 
does not originate spontaneously in U. S., 

222, 223, 269. 
originates spontaneously in England, 
223. 
Hoof-rot. See Hoof-ail. 
Hoove, cause and treatment of, 272, 273. 



310 



INDEX. 



Horns, objectionable. Page 166. 

method of shortening. 192. 

cause and treatmenf of maggots under 
the, 192. 
Hoppling sheep, how performed. 193. 
Hospital for feeble sheep, in winter, 199. 
Hound's-tongue, the burr of, injurious to 

wool. 174. 
Hungary, advantages of, for sheep husbandrv', 
115—117. 

advantages of. compared with those of 
other countries. 117. 

climate of. 115, 116. 

soils of, 116. 

land tenures in. 116. 

want of market facilities in, 116, 117. 

Prince Esterhazy's flock in, 116. 

sheep dogs of, 284. 
Hydatid in the brain, 254, 255. 

causes of. 254. 

prevalence in England of. 254. 

not very common in U. S.. 254. 

barbarous popular method of treating. 
255. 

proper treatment of, 255. 



I. 



Iletim, cut of the. 232. 

Illinois, advantages on prairies of, for wool 
growing, 96 — 103. 
Saxon sheep introduced into south of, 27. 
rot prevails in south of. 222. 
In-and-in breeding, effects of. 169. 
Independent Tartary. advantages of, for 

sheep husbandry', US. 
Indiana, advantages of, for wool growing, 

96—103. 
Inflammation of the bladder. See Cystitis. 
of the brain. See Phrenitis. 
of the eye. See OplhaJmia. 
of the intestines. See Enteritis. 
of the larynx. See Laryngitis. 
of the lungs. See Pneumonia. 
of the liver. See But. 
of the stomach. See Gastritis. 
of the udder. See Garget. 
of the membrane lining the thorax. See 

Pleurifis. 
of the mucous membrane lining the 

bronchial tubes. See Bronchitis. 
of the mucous coat of the smaller intes- 
tines. See Diarrhoea. 
of the mucous coat of the larger intes- 
tines. See Dysentery. 
of the mucous membrane lining the nasal 

passages. See Catarrh. 
of the cellular tissue of the tongue. See 
Blain. 
Intermaxillary bone, cut of the, 236. 
Intestines, cut of the. 232. 
Iodine, use of. in sheep medicine. 275, 276. 
Iowa, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

96—103. 
Italv, advantages of. for sheep husbandrv. 
113. 
exports of wool from, 110. 
exports of woollens from, 108. 
area of. 113. 
population of, 113. 
soil and climate of, 113. 
oasturage of. 113. 



J. 



Jejunum, cut of the, 232. 

John's-wort, bad effects of. on sheep, 271. 

bad effects of. how treated, 271, 272. 
Jugular vein, the best place for bleeding, 

274. 
June grass. See Blue grass. 

K. 

Kalmia angustiflora, poisonous to sheep,271. 

antidotes for. 271. 
Kentucky, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in. 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 

fine wooled sheep bred in, 27. 

advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 27, 
47. 48. 

adaptation of mountain lands of, for 
sheep husbandry. 47, 48. 
Kadneys, structure and functions of the, 233. 



L. 



Lacteals. the. 231. 

Lambs, how fed in winter, 215, 216. 

should be wintered separately, 199. 
Lambing, proper time for, 175. 

shelters necessary for, 175. 

assistance when to be rendered ewe in, 
175. 

care of the newly dropped lamb, 176. 

changing dams, how done, 177. 

irritation of the bag, how managed, 177. 

the convenience of pens in, 177. 

pinning of young lambs after. 177. 
Lard, use of. in sheep medicine, 276. 
Larynx described. 235. 
Laryngitis, little known in U. S., 238. 
Laurel, low. poisonous to sheep, 271. 
Leg. treatment of. when fractured, 273. 
Leicester sheep, origin of the, 142. 

cut of the. 142. 

cut of the microscopic appearance of 
wool of. 136. 

general description of, 143. 154. 

characters of as breeders. 143. 

degree of hardiness of, 143. 

points aimed at by breeders of. 144. 

introduction of into V. S.. 144. 
Lentils, value of. as a tbdder, 218. 

straw of. value of. as a fodder, 213. 

straw of. fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Lice, method of destroying. 192. 
Lime, chloride of, use of, in sheep medicine, 
276. 

carbonate of. use of, in sheep practice, 
276. 

as a fertilizer in the South. 67 — 70. 

as a fertilizer, when valuable, 68. 

as a fertilizer, Johnson's opinions con- 
cerning. 6S. 

as a fertilizer. Von Thaer's opinion con- 
cerning. 68. 

as a fenilizer, Petzholdt's opinion con- 
cerning, 69. 



INDEX. 



311 



Lime, as a fertilizer, Chaptal's opinion con- 
cerning. Page 69. 
Linseed, use of, to guard the end of a pro- 
bang. See Choking. 

caked, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

oil, use of, .in sheep medicine. 276. 
Little Bucharia, exports of wool from, 118. 
Liver, structure and functions of the, 232, 
233. 

diseases of the. See Hot. 
Lolium perenne. See Eye grass. 
Lombardy. advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 113. 
Long wool, the goods in which it is em- 
ployed, 143, 151. 

the sheep which produce it, 143, 149, 
151. 

market for, in U. S., 154. 
Loss of cud, not a disease, 272. 
Louisiana, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 

price of land in, 60. 
Lucern, unsuccessful in the North, 33. 

succeeds on the souihcrn mountains, 47. 

value of, as a fodder, 213. 

fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Lunar caustic, use of, in sheep practice, 276. 
Lungs, structure and functions of the, 235. 

Tiepatization of the. described, 239. 

diseases of the, 239, 240. 
Lupins, white, as a green manuring crop in 

the South, 74. 
Lupinus albus. See L^tpiris. 
Lymph, the, 231. 
Lymphatics, the, 231. 

M. 

Madia, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

Maggots on sheep, cause and treatment of, 

192. 
Malta, exports of wool from, 110. 
Man, Isle of. See Guernsey and Man. 
Mangel wurzel, value of in producing live 
weight, wool, and tallow, 214. 
percent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
Maniplus, structure and functions of the, 229. 

cut of the, 228. 
Manufactures of wool. See Woollen Manu- 
factures. 
Manufactories. See Woolleii Factories. 
Manufacturers of wool, American, their suc- 
cess identified with that of the wool 
growers, 161. 
have not properly discriminated in the 
prices of different qualities of wool. 
160. 
combinations of, to lower prices of wool, 
161. 
Manures, table of comparative values of 40. 
the available ones in the South, 67 — 76. 
green, use and economy of, 70, 72, 74, 75. 
the cheapest, for the South, 73 — 75. 
where applied in a proper rotation of 
crops, 84. 
Manyfolds. See Maniplus. 
Marking sheep, the brand for, 191. 
suitable pigment for, 191. 
how and wlien done, 191. 



Marking sheep, on the ears, how done, 179. 
Marl, as a fertilizer, South, 67—70. 

as a fertilizer, when valuable, 68, 70. 

as a fertilizer, expensiveness of 70. 

Meadow fox-tail grass, flourishes on the 

southern mountains, 47. 
Medicago sativa. See Lucern. 
Medicines, list of, for sheep, 274 — 277. 

directions for administering into the sto- 
mach, 273. 
Mercury, preparations of, in sheep medicine, 

275, 276. 
Merinos, introduction into the U. S., 132. 
their gradual spread in the U. S., 132. 
causes of their subsequent decrease in 

U. S., 1.58, 159. 
their rapid restoration to public favor in 

U. S., 160, 161. 
Spanish families of, 132. 
Spanish, amount and quality of wool 

yielded by, 133, 135. 
Spanish, cut of wool of 135, 137. 
French family of described, 133. 
French, amount and quality of wool 

yielded by, 133, 135. 
French, cut of wool of, 135. 
American families of, described, 133, 

134. 
American, amount and quality of wool 

yielded by, 55, 134—137. 
American, cuts of wool of 135, 136. 
American, cut of ram of 131. 
American, cut of ewe of, 134. 
American, hardness of, 137. 
American, profits of a premium flock of, 

55. 
American, prices of wool of 55. 
range of climate endured by, 137. 
countries successfully introduced in, 17, 

IS. 
consumption of food by, compared with 

other breeds, 137. 
as breeders and nurses, compared with 

other breeds, 137. 
proportion of wool to amount of food 

consumed, compared with the English 

breeds, 156. 
as mutton sheep, compared with English 

breeds, 158. 
for production of fine wool, compared 

with Saxons, 163, 164. 
crosses with Saxons. 134, 138, 141, 164. 
crosses with native sheep, 164. 
crosses with Southdowns. 170, 171. 
crosses with Leicesters, 171. 
the best variety of sheep for the South, 

163, 165—168. 
proper size of, 165. 
proper form of 166. 
proper W(='i2ht of fleece of 165. 
proper length and density of wool of, 

167. 
proper evenness of wool of 167. 
proper style of wool of, 168. 
proper anioinit of gum on wool of, 167. 
proper quality of skin of 166. 
points to be avoided in, 168. 
Mesentery, cut of the, 232. 
Mesenteric glands, the, 231. 
Mexico, adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 

105. 
exports of wool from, 110. 
exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846, 

124. 



312 



INDEX. 



Mexico, sheep dogs of. Page 284 — 286. 
Microscopic views of wool, 135 — 137, 145. 
Middle wools. See Southdowtt wool. 
Midriff. See Diaphragm. 
Millet, productiveness of, South, 37, 38. 

straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211, 

212. 
value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Milt. See Spleen. 
Miscellaneous diseases, 271 — 273. 
Mississippi, population of, 17. 
number of sheep in, 17. 
pounds of wool grown in, 17. 
average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 
woollen factories in, 17. 
woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 
fine wooled sheep bred in, 27. 
latitude, &.C., of, compared with Aus- 
tralian, 27. 
Missouri Territory, advantages of, for sheep 

husbandry, 96—103. 
Modena, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

113. 
Mogadore wool, 90. 
Morea, exports of wool from, 110. See 

Greece. 
Morocco. See Africa. 
Mountains of the South. See ]\lou7itai7i 

zone, under head of Southern States. 
Mud, as a fertilizer. See Swamp mud. 
Muriate of soda. See Salt. 
Muriatic acid, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Mutton, economical food for slaves, 56. 57. 
its effects on the system compared with 

other meats, 56. 
the quality of, in different breeds of 
sheep, 153, 154, 158. Also, see the 
difierent breeds, 
sheep, the English. See Southdowns, 

Leicesters, and Cotswoldx. 
sheep, where they constitute the most 

profitable variety, 153, 154. 
sheep, comparison between varieties of, 

153, 154. 
sheep, unadapted to most parts of the 

South, 154, 155. 
sheep, less profitable in the South than 
Merinos, 158. 

N. 

Naples, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

113. 
Nasal bones, cut of the, 236. 
Native sheep (so called) of the U. S., origin 
of, 130. 
general characteristics of, 131. 
crosses with other breeds, 131, 164. 
policy of grading up with the Merino in 

the South, 164, 170. 
selection of, to cross with Merinos, 170. 
do not cross successfully with Saxons, 
164. 
Nerves, the, 236. 
Nervous diseases, the, 251. 
New England, advantages of, for wool 

growing, 95. 
New Jersey, advantages of, for wool grow- 
ing, 95. 
New Leicester sheep. See Leicester. 
New Oxi'ordshire sheep. See Coiswolds. 
New South Wales. See Australia. 
New York, population of, 17. 



New York, sheep introduced in by the Dutch 
colonists, 130. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in. 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 

grass lands of, how managed, 32. 

price of grazing lands in, 53. 

price of sheep in, 53. 

cost of producing wool per pound in, 61. 

profits of wool growing in, 53 — 55. 
Nitrate of silver. See Lunar caustic. 
Nitrate of potash, use of, in sheep medicine, 

276. 
Nitre. See Nitrate of -potash. 
Nitric acid, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
North Carolina, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

amount of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 

price of land in, 44, 60. 

adaptation of mountain lands of, to 
sheep husbandry, 44 — 46. 
Norway, exports of wool from, 110. 

climate and flora of, 104, 105. 
Numbering sheep, advantages of, 178. See 
Kfgisteriiig. 

Von Thaer's system of, 179. 

cuts illustrating, 179. 



o. 



Oats, value of, in producing live weight, 
wool, and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
value of straw of, as a fodder, 213. 
straw of, fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Odessa, exports of wool from. 117. 
ffisopliagus, course of the, 234. — 236. 
entrance of, into stomach, 228, 229. 
obstruciions of the, how ireaied, 273. 
ffisophagean canal, structure and functions of 

the, 2-29. 
ffistrus ovis, description of, 256. 
natural history of, 256, 257. 
cuts of, 256. 
Ohio, advantages of, for wool growing, 95. 
Omentum, description of the, 228. 
One crop system of the South, 81. 

exhaustion of laiid consequent on the, 

81, 82. 
exhaustion of land coiucquent on the, 
De Candolle's, Macaire's, Mirbel's, 
Braconnet's and Gyde's theories and 
experiments on. f^l. 
Opium, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Opthalmia, treainicn; of the. 239. 
Orchard grass, uneu Ci^sslul in New York, 
33. 
flourishes on the .'■outhern mountains, 62. 
Orkney, wool of 90 
Otter sheep of the U. S., 129. 
Ovaries, the, 233. 



Palsy, nature and treatment of, 253. 
Pancreas, structure and functions of the, 232. 
Panicum milliaceum. See Millet. 



INDEX, 



313 



Panicum sanguinale. See Crab grass. 
Papal States, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry. Page 113. 
Parietal bone, cut of a section of, 236. 
Parma, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

113. 
Parotid glands, the, 236. 
Parturition. See Lambing. 
Pastures, the natural ones of the South, 33, 
34, 36, 44—48, 59, 60. 
how formed on sterile lands, 73 — 75. 
Patagonia, portion of, in wool zone, 105. 
Paunch. See Rumen. 
Peas of the South, 39. 

substitute for clover in the South, 39,41. 
value of, as a fodder, 39, 41, 213, 214. 
value of, in the production of live weight, 

wool, and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
value of, as a green manuring crop, 74, 

75. 
what time plowed under for green ma- 
nure, 75. 
haulm of, valuable as a fodder, 39, 213, 

214. 
haulm of, valuable as a manure, 40. 
chemical analysis of, 39. 
Pedigree, only, value of. 171. 
Pelt-rot, description and treatment of, 255. 
Pens for the lambing season, how con- 
structed, 177. 
Pennsylvania, adaptation of, to sheep hus- 
bandry, 95. 
Pepper, black, use of, in sheep medicine, 

276. 
Pericardium, the, 234. 
Persia, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

104, 118. 
Peru, exports of wool from, 110. 

e.\ports of wool to U. S. in 1846, 124. 
Pharynx, the, 235, 236. 
Phleum pratense. See Timothy. 
Phrenitis, rare in U. S., 253. 
Pia mater, the, 236. 

Pimento, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Pindars, value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Pinning, fatal to lambs, how managed, 177. 
Pleura, the, 234. 

Pleuritis, little known in U. S., 238. 
Pleurisy. See Pleuritis. 
Pneumonia, nature and treatment of, 239, 

240. 
Poa pratensis. See Blue grass. 
Poisonous plants to sheep, 271. 
Portugal, exports of wool from, 110. 
Potatoes, Irish, as a winter feed for sheep, 
41,213. 
value of, in the production of live weight, 

wool, and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in, 214. 
sweet, winter feed of sheep, 41. 
Poudrette, as a manure, South, 67. 
Prairies of the Western States described, 
95—107. 
advantages on the, for wool growing, 

95—107. 
natural grasses of the, 96 — 99. 
natural grasses, succulent during but a 

short season, 96, 97. 
natural grasses, rapidly exterminated, 96. 
natural grasses, will not alone support 

sheep, 96. 
natural grasses, make poor hay for 
sheep, 98. 



2R 



Prairies of the Western States will not pro- 
duce winter pasturage, 98. 
time of winter foddering necessary on, 

cost of sheep husbandry on, compared 

with Eastern States, 99. 
cost of fuel, fences and buildings on, 99, 

100. 
difficulties in the way of the shepherd 

system on, 100, 101. 
scarcity of water on, 101. 
climate of, variable and excessive, 102, 

103. 
climate of, compared with Eastern 

States, 102. 
climate of, compared with Southern 

States, 102, 103. 
climate of, unfavorable to fine wooled 

sheep, 103. 
Pregnant ewes, how managed. See Ewes. 
Prussia, for general description of, see Ger- 
many, 114 — 116. 
exports of wool irom, 110. 
exports of woollens from, 108. 
advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 116. 
climate of, 104, 115. 
management of sheep in, 139. 
Pulse, place for feeling the, 274. 

natural rapidity of, 274. 
Purging. See Diarrhasa 
Pylorus, the, 228, 231. 



R. 



Rabies, uncommon in U. S., 253. 
Racks, for feeding sheep, 200 — 203. 
box, cut and description of, 200. 
hole, cut and description of, 200. 
sparred, cut and description of, 201. 
hopper, cut and description of, 202. 
Rams, method of castrating, 180, 181. 
dangerous ones, how managed, 193. 
importance of careful selection in, 172. 
objections to several running in the same 

flock of ewes, 197. 
necessity of selecting ewes in reference 

to quality of, 197. 
proper age of, to put to ewes, 197. 
different methods of putting to ewes, 

198. 
how fed when running with ewes, 199. 
time allowed to run with ewes, 199. 
number of ewes those of different ages 

will serve, 197. 
not allowed to run with ewes in sum- 
mer, 193. 
Rambouillet Merino. See French family of , 

under head of Merinos. 
Rape, as food for sheep, 62. 

flourishes on southern mountains, 62. 
Rectum, the, 232. 
Red-top. See Herds grass. 
Red water. See Dropsy, acute. 
Registering sheep, Mr. Grove's and author's 
method, 180. 
importance of, 178. 
Respiratory passages, the, 235. 
Respiration, how produced, 234. 
Resting lands, meaning of the term in agri- 
cuhure, 82. 
theory of, 82. 
inexpediency of, 82. 
Reticulum, description of the, 228. 



314 



INDEX. 



Reticulum, functions of the. Page 230. 

Rice, value of. as a lodder, 213. 

Roots, for winter feed of sheep, 213, 214, 

216. 
Root tro\ighs, cut of, 203. 
Rot, not known in most parts of U. S., 222. 
other diseases mistaken tor, 222. 
has appeared in I'ennessee and Illinois, 

222. 
prevalence of, in Europe, 221, 222. 
causes assigned for the, 223, 248, 249. 
symptoins of the, 247. 
post-mortem appearances of, 247. 
cuts of the fluke-worm of, 248. 
suddenness with which it is engendered. 

249. 
English custom of selling rotted sheep 

to the butcher, 249. 
treatment of the, 249. 250. 
Rotation in crops, necessity of, 81, 82. 
necessity of, in the South, 78 — 83. 
a system of, recommended for the South, 
83—85. 
Rumen, structure of the, 228. 
cut of the, 228. 
functions of the, 229. 
unnatural distension of the. See Hoove. 
Rumination, the process of, 230. 
Russia, climate of, 104, 117, 118. 
soil and products of, 117. 
face of the country in, 117. 
the south of, advantages of, for sheep 

husbandry, 117. 
the south of, compared with Hungary, 

117. 
the south of, compared with prairies of 

the U. S., 117. 
Merinos introduced in, in 1802, 117. 
Merinos, rapid increase of, in, 117. 
e.\porls of wool i'rom, 110, 117. 
exports of wool to U. S. in 1826, 124. 
Ruta bagas, as sheep feed, 213, 216. 
Rye, for winter pasturage in the South, 40, 
58. 
value of grain of, in producing live 

weight, wool, and tallow, 214. 
per cent, of nitrogen in. 214. 
dry straw of, value of, in different states, 

as a fodder, 213. 
fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Rye grass, unsuccessful in New York, 33. 
flourishes on southern mountains, 47,62. 



s. 



Sacking wool, how performed, 189. 

proper sacks for, 189. 
Salt, necessary for sheep in summer, 194. 

necessary for sheep in winter, 218. 

effect, in conjunction witli fodders, in in- 
creasing live weight, wool, and tallow, 
214. 

as a medicine, 276. 

bo.\, for sailing sheep, cut of, 194. 
Saltpetre, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Sainfoin, 33. 

fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 
Sardinia, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 

113. 
Saxon sheep, origin of, 138. 

cut of ram, 138. 

varieties of, 139. 

microscopic appearance of wool of, 136. 



Sa.xon sheep, German management of, 116, 
139. 
introduction of, into U. S., 140, 141. 
deterioration of blood of, in U. S., 141. 
quantity and quality of wool of, in U. S., 

141. 
wool of, in U. S., compared with parent 

stock, 141, 142. 
general description of, 141. 
defects of, as breeders and nurses, 139, 

141. 
defects of, in hardiness, 139, 141. 
how far adapted to climate in northern 

states, 162. 
superseded the Merinos for a time in 

U. S., 159. 
rapid decrease of, in the U. S.. 160. 
dislike to, among northern farmers, 162. 
compared with Merinos for growing fine 

wool, 163. 
improved by a cross with Merinos, 136, 

137, 141. 
crosses of, with native sheep, 141, 164. 
Saxony, soils of 114. 
climate of, 104, 115. 
face of the country in, 114. 
management of sheep in, 116. 
Scab, description of, 258. 

cuts of the acarus producing it, 259. 
habits of the acarus, 258. 
circumstances under which the acarus 

makes its attacks, 258. 
short-wooled sheep comparatively ex- 
empt from, 259. 
contagiousness of, 259. 
prevalence of, in England, 259. 
treatment of 260, 261. 
Scotland, (included, in most respects, in de- 
scription of England.) 
exports of wool from, to U. S. in 1846, 

124. 
mountains of, only kept in pasture by 
sheep, 71. 
Scours. See Diarrhcra. 
Sedge grass, eaten by sheep, 49. 
Selection, annual necessity of, in flocks, 190. 
rules for, 190. 

form of a register to expedite, 190. 
Shade, necessity of in sheep pasture, 195. 
Shearing, pro])er time of, 184. 

time between, and washing, 184. 
cut of arrangements for, 184. 
rules and regulations for, 185, 186. 
of lambs, objected to, 186. 
of sheep, semi-annually, objected to, 
186. 
Sheds for sheep, cuts of, 205, 208. 

the cheapest, 208. 
Shelter for sheep in winter. See Sheds, 

Stillf:. &.C. 

Sheep, bred in all climates, 17. 

number of in the southern states and in 
New York, 17. 

indispensable for support of poor landfi, 
71. 

indispensable to support tillage in Eng- 
land, 71, 72. 

system of sustaining tillage lands by, in 
England, 71, 72. 

poor lands improved by, in norihern 
states, 72. 

system of improving poor lands by, in 
the South, 73—76. 

better manurers than other stock, 71, 72. 



INDEX. 



315 



Sheep, improve the character of the vegeta- 
tion. Page 57. 

extirpators of briers and shrubs, 57. 

small risk by death, in breeding, 57. 

impropriety of feeding, in yards with 
other stock, in winter, 210. 

comparison of breeds of, 153, 154, 163, 
164. 

comparison in respect to weight of fleece, 

154, 156, 157. 

comparison in quality of wool, 154. 
comparison in consumption of food, 154, 

156. 
comparison in proportion of wool to 

food consumed, 156. 
comparison in hardiness, 156, 157. 
comparison in longevity, 156, 157. 
comparison in mutton, 153, 154, 158. 
comparison in bearing hard stocking, 154, 

155, 156. 

comparison in profitableness in the South, 

156, 157. 

how they should be caught and other- 
wise handled, 174. 
washing of. See Washing sheep. 
shearing of. See Shearing. 
(for other particulars of the management 

of, see the different heads.) 
cordial, how compounded, 250. 
dogs, of the ancients. 278, 279. 
dogs, of Spain, 280—284. 
dogs, of Spain, cut of, 281. 
dogs, of France, 286. 
dogs, of Hungary, 284. 
dogs, of England, 287. 
dogs, of England, cut of, 287. 
dogs, of Scotland, 288. 
dogs, of Scotland, cut of, 288. 
dogs, of Mexico, 284—286. 
dogs, of South America, 285. 
dogs, sheep must be familiarized with, 
. 288. 

Silesia, climate of, 104, 115. 
face of the country, 114. 
character of the soil, 114. 
Slave cloths, description, 85, 86, 89, 90. 
expense of imported, 85, 86, 89. 
actual first cost of, 90. 91. 
great profits of manufacturers of, 90, 91. 
should be manufactured in the southern 

states, 87. 
offers of northern manufacturers to fur- 
nish below present prices, 90, 91. 
cost of manufacturing as good or better 

plains in the north, 86. 
cost of manufacturing " at the halves," 

87. 
cost of manufacturing by hand on plan- 
tations, 89. 
Smith's Island sheep, 129. 
Smyrna wools, quality of, 90. 
Snuffles. See Catarrh. 
South America, portion of, in the wool zone, 
105. 
climate of, 104, 105. 
exports of wool from, 105. 
sheep husbandry in, 105. 
advantages of, for wool growing, 105, 

106. 
advantages of, compared with U. S., 

105. 106. 
pampas of, compared with prairies of 

U. S., 105. 
sheep dogs of, 285. 



South America, for other particulars of, see 

Buenos Ay res, &-C. 
Southdown sheep, origin of, 144. 

cut of ram, 145. 

cut of ewe, 146. 

cut of wool viewed through microscope, 
145. 

general description of, 144, 145, 148, 154. 

value of, as a mutton sheep, 146, 147. 

weight and quality of Heeces of, 146. 

wool of, deficient in felting properties, 
145, 146. 

introduction into U. S., 147. 
South Carolina, population of, 17. 

number of sheep in, 17. 

pounds of wool grown in, 17. 

average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 

woollen factories in, 17. 

woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 

price of land in, 59, 60. 

neglect of grass culture in, 31. 

hay imported into, 31. 

adaptation of soils of, to grass culture, 
31, 32, 34, 59, 80. 

adaptation of climate of, to grass culture, 
36. 

system of cropping in, 32, 79. 

system of cropping compared with New 
York, 32, 33. 

system of cropping, change in, recom- 
mended by legislature, 79, 80. 

system of crop])ing, utility of sheep 
husbandry in eflecting such change in, 
85. 

cost of keeping sheep in, 59, 60. 

winter pasturage for sheep in, 58 — 60. 

adaptation of mountains of, to sheep 
pasture, 47, 59. 

present method of managing sheep in, 
59, 60. 

wolves in, 64. 
Southern States, what states included under 
this designation, 30. 

area of, 30, 94. 

natural features and geology of, 30, 31. 

quality of soils of, 30^ 35, 42, 69. 

profits of sheep husbandry in, 58 — 62. 

profits of, compared with other hus- 
bandry in, 76, 77. 

advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 77. 

advantages of, compared with other 
stales and countries. See Wool grow- 
ing. 

advantages of, for migratory sheep hus- 
bandry, 62. 

advantages of, for migratory sheep hus- 
bandry, compared with Spain, 62 — 64. 

expense of keeping sheep in, 59, 60. 

expense per pound, of growing wool in, 
61. 

expense per pound, of growing wool in, 
compared with New York, 61. 

prejudice in, against sheep husbandry, 
and causes of, 72, 81. 

sheep exposed to dogs and wolves in, 64. 

compared with other countries in above 
particular, 65. 

prices of land in, 44, 46, 47, 60. 

amelioration of sterile and worn-out 
soils of, by sheep husbandry, 52, 
70—72. 

amelioration of sterile and worn-out soils 
of, by sheep husbandry, more cheaply 
than by the available manures, 67. 



316 



INDEX. 



Southern States, amelioration of sterile and 
worn-out soils of, by sheep husbandry, 
more cheaply than by marl. Page 
68—70. 

amelioration of sterile and worn-out soils 
by sheep husbandry, considered cheap- 
est in England, 71, 72. 

amelioration of sterile and worn-out soils 
by sheep husbandry, considered cheap- 
est in the Northern States, 73. 

amelioration of sterile and worn-out soils 
by sheep husbandry, why preferable 
to cattle husbandry, 71, 72. 

amelioration of sterile jind worn-out soils 
by sheep husbandry, other means 
available in conjunction with, 74, 75. 

method of forming pastures on sterile 
soils of, 73, 74. 

effect of present one-crop husbandry in, 
78—81. 

sheep husbandry, basis of convertible 
husbandry in, 52, 78. 

convertible husbandry in, the strong ne- 
cessity for, 82. 

convertible husbandry in, recommended 
by a committee of the legislature of 
South Carolina, 79, 80. 

convertible husbandry in, recommended 
in Judge Seabrooli's Report, 80. 

rotation of crops for, proposed, 83 — 85. 

should rear their own products for con- 
sumption, 76. 

should manufacture their own coarse 
woollens, 85—89. 

cost of manufacturing and importing 
these in, compared, 86—87, 89—93. 

cost of manufacturing slave cloths in, by 
hand, 88. 

divided into three zones, 30. 

the territorial limits of these zones, 30, 
31. 
tide-water zone of, 30. 

natural features and geology of, 30. 

quality of the soil of, 30, 35, 69. 

compared with portions of New York, 
34. 

compared with Flanders, 35. 

how ameliorated, 35, 68. 

adaptation of, to the grasses, 31 — 38. 

adaptation of, to clover, 32, 36. 

adaptation of, to other fodders, 38 — 41. 

causes of failure in acclimating grasses 
in, 31, 32. 

proper grasses to introduce in, 37 — 40. 

natural grasses of, 36, 37. 

natural pastures of, 33, 34. 

number of sheep per acre which could 
find subsistence in, 58, 94. 

winter pasturage of, 31, 40, 58, 59. 

prices of land in, 60, 61. 

present system of cropping in, 32. 

climate of, adapted to growing fine wool, 
23—29. 
hilly zone of, 30. 

face of the country and geology of, 42. 

quality of the soil, 42. 

method of enriching soils of, 72. 

adaptation of, to grasses and grains, 27, 
42, 59. 

method of forming pastures in, 74. 

adaptation to sheep husbandry, 43, 59. 

price of lands in, 59, 61. 

climate of, 42, 59. 

quality of, west of the mountains, 51. 



Southern States, mountain zone of, 30. 

altitude of the Blue Ridge, Alleghany, 
and Cumberland chains, 43, 63. 

altitude of, compared with the moun 
tains of Spain, 63. 

shape of the mountains of, 43. 

geology of, 43. 

character of the soil of, 44, 46, 49. 

large portions of, arable, 43. 

table lands on, 43. 

grasses of. 43, 44, 47, 59, 62. 

white and red clover, lucern, and rye 
grass flourish on, 47. 

timothy and orchard grass flourish on, 
44, 62. 

adaptation of, to pasturage, 44 — 47, 59, 
62. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 44 — 51, 
59. 

adaptation of, to Hon. T. L. Clingman's 
statements concerning, 44, 45. 

adaptation of, to Mr. H. M. Earle's state- 
ments concerning, 46. 

adaptation of, to Col. E. Colston's state- 
ments concerning, 47. 

adaptation of, to Hon. W. L. Goggins's 
statements concerning, 47. 

adaptation of, to Hon. A. Stevenson's 
statements concerning, 47. 

adaptation of, to Hon. A. Beatty's state- 
ments concerning, 47. 

adaptation of, to Mr. C. F. Kramer's 
statements concerning, 48. 

adaptation of, to flon. R. F. Simpson's 
statements concerning, 59. 

adaptation of, to Mr. N. Murdoch's 
statements concerning, 62. 

winter pasturage on, 47 — 49, 59. 

adaptation of, to turnips and other fod- 
ders, 62. 

climate of, 44 — 51, 59. 

climate of, shown by vegetation of, 50, 
51. 

climate of compared with that of New 
York, 49, 50. 

price of lands in, 44, 46, 47, 48, 59. 

wolves in, 64. 
Spain, sheep husbandry of, 62, 63. 

great decrease in wool growing in. 111. 

migratory sheep husbandry of, and its 
disadvantages, 113. 

advantages of, for migratory sheep hus- 
bandry, compared with those of south- 
ern states, 62, 63. 

evil effects of the Mesta in, 113. 

height, climate, and vegetation of moun- 
tains of 62, 112. 

general advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 62, 63, 112. 

soil and products of, 112. 

number of sheep in, 112. 

decreased exports of wool from, 110,111. 

e.\ports of wool to U. S. in 1836 and 
1846, 111, 124. 

other exports from, 112. 

sheep dogs of, 280 — 284. 
Spear grass. See Blue grass. 
Spergula arvensis. See Spurry. 
Sphenoid hone, cut of. 236. 
Spirit of salt. See Muriatic acid. 

of tar, use of, in sheep practice, 277. 
Spleen, structure and functions of the, 231, 

232. 
Spurry, as a green manuring crop, South, 74. 



INDEX. 



317 



Staggers. See Hydatid in the brain. 
Stell, description of the. Page 206, 207. 

cut of outside one, 203. 

cut of ancient ones, 206. 

cut of inside circular ones, 207. 

cut of circular one, with racks, &c., 207. 
Sternum, the, 228. 

St. Helena, exports of wool from, 110. 
Stomachs of the sheep, description of, 228 — 
231. 

cuts of the, 228. 

structure and functions of each of the, 
228, 229. 

course of the food through the, 229, 230. 

conflicting theories concerning, 230. 
Storing wool, 189. Also see Wool depots. 
Storms, bad effects of cold ones after shear- 
ing, 191. 
Sturdy. See Hydatid in the train. 
Sulphate of copper, use of, in sheep prac- 
tice, 275. 
Sulphate of magnesia, use of, in sheep prac- 
tice, 275. 
Sulphur, use of, in sheep medicine, 276. 
Sun-scald, cause and treatment of, 191. 
Swamp mud, its value as a fertilizer, 70. 
Sweden, exports of wool from, 110. 
Sweet- bread. See Pancreas. 
Syria, climate of, 104. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 117, 
118. 



Table 1. Of population, number of sheep, 
pounds of wool, woollen factories, and 
value of manufactured goods in south- 
ern states and in New York, 17. 

2. Of average weight of fleeces in 
southern states and New York, 18, 20, 
21. 

3. Of average weight of fleeces in four 
counties of each of the above states, 
20. 

4. Of comparative value of manures, 40. 

5. Of the flowering of plants, &c., in 
New York, 49. 

6. Of thermometrical observations in 
New York, 50. 

7. Of the average prices of wool in New 
York, 53. 

8. Of importations of wool into Eng- 
land every fifth year, from 1810 to 
1840, 110. 

9. Of importations of wool into U. S. 
annually, from 1837 to 1846, 124. 

10. Of importations of wool into U. S. 
in 1846, with countries from which 
imported, 124. 

11. Of woollens annually imported into 
U. S., during twenty-five years, 125. 

12. Of increase of population in U. S., 
from 1790 to 1840, 127. 

13. Of increase of population and amount 
of wool required in U. S., at different 
periods, for one hundred and fifteen 
years, 128. 

14. Of the progressive reductions in du- 
ties on wool and woollen, under the 
" Compromise Tariff" of 1833, 159. 

Tagging, necessity of, 173. 
how performed, 173, 174. 
cut explanatory of, 173. 



Tar, propriety of feeding of, to sheep, 194. 

uses of. in sheep practice, 277. 
Tariffs on wool, of France, 106. 
of England, 106. 

of U. S., on wools and woollens, enacted 
in the years 1824, 1828, 1832, 1833, 
1841, 1842, and 1846, 158, 159. 
effect of those of U. S. on the prices of 

wool, 159, 160. 
effect of those of U. S. on importations 

of wool, 159, 160. 
effect of those of U. S. on importations 

of woollens, 160. 
effect of those of U. S. on domestic pro- 
duction of wool, 159. 
effect of those of U. S. on the quality 

of domestic wool, 159, 160. 
frauds practised in invoicing coarse 
wools imported into U. S., under that 
of 1842, 107. 
effect of that of 1846 on manufactures 

of U. S., 106, 125, 126, 161. 
effect of fluctuations in, on manufac- 
tures, 126. 
Tasmania. See Australia. 
Taurida. See Crimea. 
Taylor, Col. John, of Virginia, his erroneous 
vievi's in relation to sheep husbandry, 
72, 81. 
Teeth, number and description of, 237. 
indicative of the age, 237. 
cuts of, at difi'erent ages, 237. 
difference in the retention of, by different 

breeds, 238. 
causes of premature loss of, 238. 
should be removed in some cases, 238. 
Temperature, influence of, on quality of 

wool. See Climate. 
Tennessee, population of, 17. 
number of sheep in, 17. 
pounds of wool grown in, 17. 
average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 
woollen factories in, 17. 
woollen manufactured in, 17. 
fine wooled sheep introduced in, 27. 
fine wooled sheep, wool of, not deterio- 
rated in, 27. 
adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 27, 

48. 
adaptation of mountains of, to sheep 

husbandry, 48. 
price of lands in, 47, 48. 
Tetanus, unusual in U. S., 253. 
Thibet, advantages of, for sheep husbandry, 
118. 
wool exported from, 118. 
Thoracic duct, the, 231. 
Thoracic viscera, the, 234. 
Thorax, the, 234. 
Thyroid glands, the, 236. 

diseases of the, 270, 271. 
Ticks, mode of destroying, and keeping out 

of flock, 192. 
Tobacco, use of, in sheep practice, 277. 
Timothy, the favorite meadow grass. North, 
33. 
as the food of sheep, 212. 
success on southern lowlands question- 
able, 37. 
succeeds on southern mountains, 44, 62. 
Toe-nippers, description and use of, 183. 

cut of, 183. 
Tory weed. See Hound' s-tongue. 
Trees, clumps of, for winter shelter, 207. 



318 



INDEX. 



Trifolium repens. See Clover, white. 
Trifolium prateiise. See Clover, red. 
Troughs, for feeding roots or grain. Page 203. 

i'or feeding roots or grain, cuts of, 203. 

for folding wool, 187. 

for folding wool, cut of, 187. 
Tunica arachnoides, the, 236. 
Tunisian sheep, introduced into U. S., 151. 

character of, 151, 152. 
Turbinated bones, cut of the, 23C. 
Turnips, succeed on the southern mountains, 
62. 

how fed off by sheep in England, 72. 

value of, as a fodder, 213, 216. 

Swedish. See Iiula haga. 
Turnsick. See Hydatid m the hrain. 
Turpentine, spirits of, use of, in sheep prac- 
tice, 277. 
Turkey, soils and climate of. 118. 

soils and climate of, in Europe, 114. 

face of the country in, 114. 

population of, 114. 

institutions of, unfavorable to sheep hus- 
bandry, 114. 

exports of wool from, 109, 110. 

exports of carpets, 108. 
Tuscany, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 113. 
Typhus fever, not common in U. S., 238. 



u. 



Ukraine, Merinos introduced in, 117. 

advaninges of, for sheep husbandry, 117. 
United States, number of sheep and poiuids 
of wool in, in 1839, 123. 

breeds of sheep in, 129. 

exports of wool to England for thirty 
years from, 110. 

exports of wool in 1845, 1846, 122. 

annual imports of wool of, i'rom 1837 to 
1846, 124. 

annual imports, from what countries, in 
1846, 124. 

annual imports of woollens, from 1821 
to 1845, 125. 

annual consumption of woollens in, 126, 
127. 

anntial consumption of woollens in, per 
head of population, 127. 

proportion of woollens consumed in, do- 
mestic, 126. 

proportion of woollens consumed in, im- 
ported, 126. 

proportion of domestic made in manufac- 
tories, 126. 

proportion of domestic made in families, 
126. 

increase of population in, 127. 

amount of wool which will be requisite 
for population of. at different periods, 
for one hundred and fifteen years, 
128. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry. See 
Southtrn Slates, jSew Ensrland, Prai- 
Ties, and the stales by name. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, com- 
pared with Germany, 116. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, Mr. 
Grove's opinion concerning, 116. 

adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, com- 
pared with other countries. See Wool 
growing. 



United States, woollen manufactories of. See 
Woollen factories. 
tariffs of, on wool. See Tariffs. 
(for all other particulars concerning, see 
names of the things in relation to 
which information is sought.) 

Uraguay, in the wool zone, 105. 

Ureters, the, 233. 

Urethra, the, 233. 

TJrinary organs, description of the, 233. 

Uterus, description of the, 233. 



Vagina, description of the, 233. 

Van Diemcn's Land. See Australia. 

Veins, description of the, 234. 

Vena cava, the, 234. 

Ventricles, the, 234. 

Verdigris, use of, in sheep practice, 277. 

Vetches, dried into hay, value of, as a fodder, 

213. 
Veterinary works, character of American, 
219. 
character of English, 219. 
how far English ones are applicable in 
U. S., 220. 
Virginia, population of, 17. 
number of sheep in, 17. 
wool grown in, 17. 
average weight of fleeces in, 18, 21. 
woollen factories in, 17. 
woollen goods manufactured in, 17. 
adaptation of, to sheep husbandry, 42, 

47, 60. 
adaptation of mountains of, to sheep 

husbandry, 47. 
adaptation of north-western, to sheep 

husbandry, 60. 
winter herbage on mountains of, 62. 
winter pasturage in other parts of, 60. 
cost of keeping sheep in, 60, 61. 
price of lands in, (.0. 
Vitriol, blue, value of, in sheep practice. 
275. 
green, use of, in slreep practice, 276. 
oil of, as a caustic in sheep practice, 276. 

w. 

Washing sheep, cut of apparatus for, 181. 

vats and yards for, 181. 

directions for, 182. 

time to elapse after, before shearing, 184. 
Water necessary for drink of sheep, 195,218. 
Weaning lambs, proper time for, 195. 

how managed, 195. 
Welsh plains, for slave cloths. See Slave 

cloths. 
Wheat, value of, in producing live weight, 
wool, and tallow, 214. 

per cent, of nitrogen in. 214. 

straw of, value of, in different states, as 
a fodder, 213. 

fed to sheep in Germany, 211. 

chaff of, value of, as a fodder, 213. 

bran of, value of, as a fodder, 213. 
Wind-pipe, the, 235. 
Winter ieed. See Fodders. 
Wire grass. See Bermuda grass. 
Wirtembcrg, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry, 114. 



INDEX. 



319 



Wisconsin, advantages of, for sheep hus- 
bandry. Page 95—103. 
Wolves, in the Southern States, 64. 

how guarded against, 65. See Sheep 
dogs. 
Wool, zone in which it can be profitably 
grown, 103, 104. 

fabrics of. See Woollens. 

chemical analysis of, 214. 

quality of that of different breeds com- 
pared, 154. 

growth of, influenced by quantity of 
feed, 28. 

growth of, influenced by kind of feed, 
214. 

quality of, influenced by climate, 23 — 29. 

quality of, influenced by climate, opinions 
of eminent judges on this point, 23 — 
29. 

grows softer and longer in warm cli- 
mates, 28, 29. 

quality of, made coarser by abundant 
feed, 23. 

can this tendency of abundant feed to 
coarsen, be counteracted ? 24, 28. 

felting property of, accounted for, 137. 

terms used to express different qualities 
of, 161. 

fine, proper characteristics of, 167, 168. 

fine, proper amount of yolk and gum 
of, 167. 

fine, proper length of, 167. 

fine, proper evenness of, 167. 

fine, proper softness and elasticity of, 
168. 

fine, proper serrations of, 168. 

fine, proper color and brilliancy of, 168. 

Merino and Saxon compared, 163. 

cuts of Merino and Saxon, 135 — 137. 

middle character and uses of, 110, 145, 
146. 

middle character of, the sheep which pro- 
dace it, 145. 

cut of the Southdown, 145. 

long, character and uses of, 143, 151. 

long, character of the sheep which pro- 
duce it, 143, 149, 151. 

cut of Leicester, 136. 

comparative profit of growing fine and 
coarse in U. S., 154 — 163. 

comparative value of fine and coarse for 
strength and wear, 157, 158. 

not a fair discrimination in prices of, 
made by manufacfirers of U. S., 160. 

promised improvement in above parti- 
cular, 161. 

shrinkage of, in manufacturing, 86, 88, 
91. 

prices of, in New York, for fourteen 
years, 53. 

prices of, in England, 25. 

amount of, grown in U. S., 123. 

amount of, grown in Southern States, 17. 

amount of, grown in New York, 17. 

average weight of, per fleece, in Southern 
States, 18, 20. 

average weight of, per fleece, in New 
York, 18, 21, 53. 

amount of, grown in U. S., does not 
meet home consumption, 123 — 126. 

amount of, annually grown in U. S., 123. 

amount of, consumed in U. S., 123 — 127. 

amount of, consumed per head in U. S., 
127. , 



Wool, amount of, imported into U. S., from 

1821 to 1846, 124, 125. 
amount of, exported from U. S., 122. 
amount of, manufactured in U. S., 126, 

127. 
amount of, required to supply demand in 

U. S., at different future periods, 128. 
table of imports of, into England, 110. 
table, brought down to 1846, 294. 
increase in amount of, imported into 

England, from 1771 to 1840, 123. 
increase in amount of, imported into 

England, from 1840 to 1846, 294. 
increasing demand for, throughout the 

world, 123. 
one of the most marketable agricultural 

products, 77. 
amount of, grown in different countries. 

See names of countries, 
comparative profits of growing in differ- 
ent countries. See IVool growing. 
can be more profitably grown in southern 

than northern U. S., 163. 
will northern compete with Southern 

States in growing ? 162. 
method of washing, 181. 
method of washing, cut of arrangements 

for, 181. 
method of shearing, 184. 
method of shearing, cuts of arrange- 
ments for, 184. 
method of doing up, 187 — 189. 
method of doing up, cut of arrangements 

for, 187, 188. 
method of storing in wool room, 189. 
method of sacking, 189. 
room for storing, how arranged, 189. 
depots, origin and objects of, 289, 290. 
depots, plan and regulations of, 290. 
depots, advantages of, 291. 
depots, peculiarly advantageous to the 

southern wool grower, 292. 
Woollens, some processes and facts in manu- 
facturing of described, 87, 88. 
amount of, made in factories of U. S., 

126. 127. 
amount of, made in families in U. S., 

126, 127. 
amount of, made in Southern States in 

1839, 17. 
amount of, made in New York, in 1839, 

17. 
amount made in families decreasing, and 

causes, 89. 
amount imported into U. S., from 1821 

to 1845, 125. 
amount consumed in U. S., 126, 127. 
amount consumed per head in U. S., 

127. 
amount required for future consumption 

in U. S., 128. 
for slaves. See Slave cloths. 
Woollen factories, table of, in Southern 

States, and in New York, in 1839,40. 
rapid increase of, in the North, 86. 
further increase of, called for, 125, 126, 

128. 
great profits of, in the North, 86 — 93, 

125, 161. 
would be equally profitable in the South, 

86. 
stability of, in U. S., 125, 126, 161. 
foreign competition defied by, imder 

present tariff, 125. 



320 



INDEX. 



Woollen factories, injured by vacillating 

legislation. Page 126. 
Wool growing, probable increase or decrease 
of, in various countries, 121, 122. 

in U. S., advantages for. See names of 
states and regions. 

in Alabama. 42, 47, 60. 

in Florida, 42, 60. 

in Georgia, 42, 47, 60. 

in Illinois, 27, 95—103. 

in Indiana, 95—103. 

in Iowa, 95—103. 

in Kentucky, 27, 47, 48. 

in Louisiana, 18, 30, 38. 

in Mississippi, 27, 38. 

in Missouri Territory, 95—103. 

in New England, 95. 

in New Jersey, 95. 

in North Carolina, 43 — 46. 

in Ohio, 95. 

in Pennsylvania, 95. 

on prairies, 95 — 103. 

in South Carolina, 47, 58—60. 

in Tennessee, 27, 48. 

in Virginia, 42, 47, 60. 

in Wisconsin, 95 — 103. 
Wool growing in foreign countries. See 
names of countries. 

in Afghanistan, 118. 

in Asia Minor, 118. 

in Australia, 25, 119-121, 294. 

in Austria, 114 — 116. 

in Baden, 114. 

in Bavaria, 114. 

in Beloochistan, 118. 

in Buenos Ayres, 105, 106. 

in Cabul. 118. 

in Cape of Good Hope, 65, 119. 

in China, 118. 

in Crimea, 117. 

in England. 111. 

in France, 111. 

in Germany, 114 — 116. 

in Great Bucharia, 118. 

in Greece, 114. 

in Hungary, 116, 117. 

in Independent Tartary, 118. 

in Italy, 113. 

in Lonibardy, 113. 



Wool growing, in Mexico, 105. 
in Modena, 113. 
in Naples, 113. 
in Papal States, 113. 
in Parma, 113. 
in Persia, 104, 118. 
in Prussia, 114, 116. 
in Russia, 117. 
in Sardinia, 113. 
in Saxony, 115. 
in Silesia, 104, 114, 115. 
in South America, 105, 106. 
in Spain, 62, 112. 
in Turkey, 114, 118. 
in Tuscany, 113. 
in Ukraine, 117. 
in Van Diemen's Land, 121. 
in Wirtemberg, 114. 
Wool market, of the world, 108, 109, 123. 
of England, 108, 110, 294. 
of France, 108, 109. 
of German States, 114, 295, 296. 
of United States, 123—128. 
foreign producers cannot compete with 

us in that of U. S., 108, 122, 123. 
U. S. producers can compete in foreign, 

with foreign producer, 108, 122, 296. 
prospect of increase in, universally, 123, 

296. 
Wool oil. See Yolk. 



Yards for sheep in winter, 199. 

necessary in the North, 200. 
Yoking rams, how done, 193. 
Yolk of wools, chemical analysis of, 182. 

proper amount of, in fleece, 167. 
Youatt, his character as a veterinary writer, 
219. 



z. 



Zinc, carbonate of, use of, in sheep practice, 
27. 
sulphate of, use of, in sheep practice, 
239. 



THE END. 



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